When Tony Dokoupil finished his first official broadcast from New York as presenter of the show CBS Evening News on Monday, he signed off: “And it’s another day in America.”
Then, he added, “I can’t believe they let me keep that line.”
The casual aside was a bit irreverent for the evening show, but it underscored one facet of the network’s decision to choose Dokoupil as its sixth anchor in the past decade. At 45, he is the youngest of three TV news anchors, a once-superstar assignment who has long lost his influence as the voice of God. With the focus on social media in recent days, Dokoupil appears determined to break through to new audiences, but some of his remarks have also drawn criticism and questions about the new direction of CBS News under Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss.
Even if the influence of the evening news presenters is no longer what it used to be, the selection of Dokoupil, who was co-host of the show CBS Morningsmade him the face of the division, anchoring not only the evening show but also special reports and special events.
With the Venezuelan invasion on Saturday morning, Dokoupil dropped anchor CBS Evening News that evening was therefore not his first appearance as a permanent presenter. But it gave a sense of where the network is headed.
Monday’s opening began with previews of upcoming stories, a feature that worked well for ratings leader ABC. World News Tonight with David Muirbut was sidelined when CBS revived its evening newscast a year ago under the direction of John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois. This led to even lower ratings, making another change a priority for new management.
Dressed in a dark suit and tie, and on the set of a newsroom, Dokoupil participated in six different reports on the U.S. operation to capture Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and his wife.
The first segment featured Matt Gutman, recently hired by ABC, on Maduro’s impeachment in Manhattan. The second segment, from senior White House correspondent Ed O’Keefe, highlighted the conflicting statements from Donald Trump and his administration on the question of who was in charge of the country. Other segments highlighted Venezuela’s new interim president, Delcy Rodriguez, and opposition leader María Corina Machado, as well as interviews with Venezuelans in the United States and their feelings about the U.S. operation.
News coverage of Venezuela concluded with a segment featuring economic analyst Jill Schlesinger, who talks about what the U.S. invasion of the oil-rich country could mean for how much Americans pay at the pump, noting that it will require billions in investment from U.S. businesses.
There was no discussion of whether such a seizure of another country’s natural resources would have an impact on U.S. foreign policy, whether the Trump administration had done much planning or whether it was even legal. It was more of a business story.
“I really think we need to think long term, not days, not months, but years,” Schlesinger told Dokoupil.
After emphasizing that “the global economy will dominate, as it always does,” Dokoupil ended his segment by telling him, “You dominate. Enjoy it.”
Dokoupil’s more casual language appears to be part of a plan to make the newscast more accessible, something he has highlighted in a series of social media posts in recent days. In a video, he told viewers that “on too many stories, the press has missed the story. Because we have taken into account the views of advocates and not the average American. Or we put too much emphasis on the analysis of academics or elites and not enough on you.”
That said, the CBS Evening News with Tony Dokoupil so far, the idea has relied heavily on the views of its advocates, as is understandable with a major news story, and it’s unclear what relying on “the average American” will look like.
Given the limited time available in a 30-minute show, Dokoupil’s comments on social media may be nothing more than a marketing effort.
But they’re undoubtedly being scrutinized with a higher level of scrutiny, not because of the new presenter, but because of the way Skydance’s acquisition of Paramount played out last year.
While seeking approval for the deal, Paramount’s former owners settled a Trump lawsuit against CBS News, even though his lawyers had previously deemed it baseless. Then, as it sought the green light from the FCC, Skydance agreed to hire an ombudsman to handle complaints about the network’s media coverage. The nominee, Kenneth Weinstein, is the former head of a right-wing Washington think tank, the Hudson Institute.
Then, last month, Weiss launched a 60 minutes segment on the Trump administration’s deportations, even though it was already completed and promoted for broadcast. Correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi protested that the decision was political; Weiss said the segment was “not ready” and needed more directors or officials from the Trump administration.
All the incidents have focused on Weiss’s every move in the news division, and whether he is somehow softening toward Trump at a time when Paramount may need his administration’s approval if it succeeds in its hostile bid for Warner Bros. Discovery.
Concerns about corporate interference were so great that Dokoupil, in his remarks on social media last week, also promised viewers that “you come first. Not the advertisers. Not the politicians. Not the corporate interests. And, yes, that includes the companies that own CBS. I report for you.”
What is unclear is how far Dokoupil will go in another statement he made on social media. In response to a commenter lamenting the division of information since the days of Walter Cronkite. Dokoupil wrote: “I can promise you that we will be more accountable and more transparent than Cronkite or anyone else of his era. » The network did not specify whether the complaints received by the ombudsman regarding the Evening News will be made public.
During his first official appearance, Dokoupil was candid about what was happening during a problem on the show. Just as he seemed ready to tell a story about Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, an image of Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) appeared on screen. “First day, first day. Big problems here,” Dokoupil said, shaking his head. Just another day in America.
