The new anchor of the CBS Evening News had a shaky start in his first on-air appearance in his new role. The journalist’s mistakes have not only opened up criticism of his performance but also fueled critiques that the network’s new leadership has sacrificed the network’s integrity for political reasons.
‘Big problems’ as CBS anchor fumbles during first broadcast
CBS journalist Tony Dokoupil, formerly a co-host of CBS Mornings, debuted Monday as the new anchor of the CBS Evening News. In a portion of the broadcast widely shared on social media, Dokoupil stumbles through a segue between two stories. As he attempted to transition from discussing Venezuela to a story on Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz dropping his reelection bid, the broadcast instead cut to images of Democratic Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, as Dokoupil stumbled through the transition.
“To other news, as you just heard from Jill — oh, to other news now. Ah, to Governor Walz — No, we’re going to do Mark Kelly,” he said. “First day, first day, big problems here,” Dokoupil said as he continued to stumble.
Dokoupil’s struggles have been heavily criticized as mistakes unbecoming of a major news anchor, and they’re also being viewed as another misstep by new CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss, whose appointment has primarily been viewed as a move to push the network in a more conservative and Trump-friendly direction.
“This is embarrassing,” former NBCUniversal executive Mike Sington posted on X, formerly Twitter. “Newly installed CBS Evening News anchor Tony Dokoupil has major problems during his first regular broadcast. The inexperience of new CBS News chief Bari Weiss is on full display.”
“Tony Dokoupil’s ‘CBS Evening News’ Debut Is an Inauspicious Sign of Where CBS News Is Headed,” Variety‘s Daniel D’Addario commented in a biting review of Dokoupil’s evening news debut.
Dokoupil and Weiss are criticized for turning CBS News in a right-wing direction
Weiss was appointed editor-in-chief and implemented major shakeups at the network after CBS parent company Paramount came under new ownership last year and became Paramount Skydance. Weiss recently received heavy criticism for her abrupt cancellation of a 60 Minutes segment on the notorious Terrorism Confinement Center prison in El Salvador, where several people deported by the Trump administration have been sent. The report was indefinitely postponed by Weiss due to a lack of comment by administration officials, effectively allowing the White House to veto the story.
Dokoupil’s elevation to evening news anchor has been seen as part of the Weiss-led effort to push the network in a more Trump-friendly direction. In a New Year’s Day clip, Dokoupil discussed his new role as anchor as part of a change made by the network in response to viewers who “do not trust us like they used to.” Dokoupil said then, “On too many stories, the press has missed the story. Because we’ve taken into account the perspective of advocates and not the average American. Or we put too much weight in the analysis of academics or elites, and not enough on you.”
The message delivered by Dokoupil was interpreted by many as a reflection of Trump-inspired attacks against mainstream news sources.
“I don’t exactly feel bad for Tony Dokoupil,” writer Jill Filipovic shared, “but he was a legitimate journalist and to be handed the thing you’ve worked your whole career for but the cost is to undermine your entire profession to serve a radically unqualified boss catering to a corrupt president… woof.”
For many, the quality of Dokoupil’s first outing as the CBS Evening News anchor contradicts the message that his new role and other changes by Weiss were made to improve the caliber of the network’s news coverage. Instead, critics are pointing to this “embarrassing” performance as a sign that the network has put politics ahead of professionalism.