Tony Dokoupil took his place behind the anchor desk of “CBS Evening News” Monday as the issues news desk undergoes a reimagining under new editor-in-chief Bari Weiss.
Dokoupil was scheduled to begin his run by traveling to 10 U.S. cities to connect with audiences outside the media centers of New York and Washington. CBS News chartered a private 14-seat jet for the tour, but that plan was put on hold as U.S. military action in Venezuela became a major story early Saturday morning.
Instead, Dokoupil took over the chairman's chair Saturday night and broadcast live from San Francisco before returning to New York for the official premiere on Monday. The tour is still ongoing and begins Tuesday from Miami.
Dokoupil's new role will be the first major challenge for Weiss, who came to the unit with no experience working in television or conducting large-scale journalistic activities. Selecting on-air talent that will help improve a channel's ratings is considered the most important task for a TV news executive.
45-year-old Dokoupil follows the duo John Dickerson and Maurice DuBoiswho hosted the CBS Evening News for a year. The program attempted to bring more detail to the network's usually fast-paced evening news format. But it lost viewers and pushed CBS beyond “ABC World News Tonight With David Muir” and “NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas.”
Dokoupil's first official broadcast returned to a style reminiscent of previous versions of the CBS Evening News, with a close-up of the anchor sitting at a desk in the newsroom.
For the past year, Dickerson and DuBois have sat around a long table and frequently interacted with correspondents shown on the big screen. The program no longer has a full-time meteorologist to present the country's weather.
Dokoupil's arrival marks the fifth anchor change at the CBS Evening News since 2017. NBC has made one change since then, and Muir has held his position at ABC since 2014.
CBS News promoted Dokoupil's launch with a quirky social media video in which the journalist presented passengers at New York's Grand Central Terminal with a piece of paper with his name on it. When asked to say “Additional,” few passengers came forward, even though he was co-host of “CBS Mornings” for several years.
The promotion seemed an odd choice, given that the job of evening news anchor had traditionally required seriousness and pleasant familiarity for a habit-driven audience.
Last Thursday, Dokoupil also released a video message suggesting that organizations like CBS News are no longer reliable sources of information for much of the public.
“A lot has changed since the first person sat in that chair,” he said. “But for me, the biggest difference is that people don't trust us like they used to. And it's not just us. It's all outdated media.”
“The fact is that there are too many stories that the press misses,” he added. “Because we have taken into account the perspective of advocates rather than the average American. Or we are placing too much emphasis on the analysis of scientists or elites and not enough on you.”
The host went even further on his Instagram account, where he quoted Walter Cronkite, who sat at the table during the division's glory years in the 1960s and '70s. “I can promise that we will be more accountable and more transparent than Cronkite or anyone else in his era,” he said.
Dokoupil's statement prompted a reaction from Michael Sokolow, a journalism professor at the University of Maine and the son of Sandy Sokolow, who produced Cronkite's show.
Sokolov noted that Cronkite believed that the public should be skeptical of what they see on television news and accept other sources and points of view.
In an interview with The Times, Sokolov said Cronkite was never comfortable with being called “the most trusted man in America.” CBS News supported this view, based on a single public opinion poll.
“Cronkite believed that undue reliance on any particular media source was not in the public interest,” Sokolov said. “And he made that clear in public appearances and television interviews for decades.”
As an example, Sokolov published an excerpt from a 1972 interview with Cronkite.
“I don't think they should believe me, or they should believe Brinkley, or they should believe anyone who's on the air, or they should get all their news from one television station,” Cronkite said.
The latest change to the “CBS Evening News” also follows one of the most tumultuous periods in CBS News' long history. The organization was shocked by Weiss' Dec. 20 decision. excerpt from 60 Minutes about the harsh mega-prison in El Salvador that the US government uses to hold illegal migrants.
Weiss believed the story needed more coverage, including an on-camera response from Trump White House officials. The White House, the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department declined to comment on 60 Minutes.
But the decision to remove the announced segment the day before it was due to air led 60 Minutes correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi to say in an email to colleagues that the decision was political. Alfonsi worked on the story for several months and it was reviewed by the division's standards and practices department.
“Government silence is a statement, not a veto,” Alfonsi wrote in an email. “If the administration's refusal to participate is a valid reason to blow up the story, we will essentially hand them a 'kill switch' for any communications they find inconvenient.”
Alfonsi's report did appear on Canada's Global TV, which aired the program before the changes were made. unfortunate operational error via CBS News. The segment has gone viral on social media.
Weiss's every move has come under scrutiny since she was given editorial control of CBS News in October. She joined the network after parent company Paramount acquired Free Press, the digital news and opinion platform she co-founded. The site has made a name for itself by exposing the supposed liberal bias of legacy media organizations and so-called woke politics.
Media industry critics have used the “60 Minutes” controversy to suggest Weiss was appointed to the position to appease President Trump. Paramount seeks acquisition of Warner Bros. Discoverywhich will require government regulatory approval. A person close to Weiss, who was not authorized to comment publicly, said Paramount had no say in Alfonsi's article.
Paramount has already paid Trump $16 million to settle a libel suit against 60 Minutes. Trump said the program fraudulently edited an interview with Kamala Harris, calling it election interference. CBS News did not admit to any wrongdoing in the settlement.
