Tony Dokoupil is expected to move from mornings to evenings at CBS News.
Dokoupil, currently co-anchor of “CBS Mornings,” has signed a new deal to take over as anchor of the “CBS Evening News,” according to several people briefed on the matter who were not authorized to comment publicly. One person said an announcement is expected as early as this week.
A CBS News spokesman declined to comment. Dokoupil, 44, did not respond to requests for comment.
The news division's signature program is expected to return to a solo anchor format after pairing John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois last year. Both Dickerson and DuBois will leave CBS News later this month.
Dokoupil's appointment will not represent a major change in the program's direction. Dokoupil, who has been with CBS News since 2016 after three years at NBC, became co-anchor of CBS Mornings in 2019.
Bari Weiss, recently appointed editor-in-chief of CBS News, has reportedly expressed a desire to bring in outside names, including Bret Baier, a conservative Fox News host based in Washington. CNN's Anderson Cooper was also discussed internally, but decided to sign a new deal with his network.
The Free Press, a digital news site co-founded by Weiss and acquired by Paramount, vigorously defended Dokoupil last year when he found himself at the center of controversy over a combative on-air interview he gave last year with author Ta-Nehisi Coates.
Dokoupil was reprimanded at an editorial meeting for the way he questioned Coates about his new book, The Message, which examines the conflict between Israel and the Gaza Strip. CBS News executives said by telephone that the interview did not meet the company's editorial standards after receiving a number of complaints from employees.
A recording of the meeting was posted on the Free Press website.
“It is journalists like Tony Dokoupil who are an endangered species in legacy news organizations that are weakening under the pressure of this new elitist consensus,” Free Press editors wrote on the matter.
Shari Redstonethe former controlling shareholder of Paramount, the parent company of CBS News, also publicly expressed her support for Dokoupil at the time. She said CBS News executives made a “serious mistake” in handling the issue. Both executives who led the editorial conversation, Wendy McMahon and Adrienne Roark, are no longer with the network.
