Tony Dokoupil cut Wednesday’s installment of “CBS Evening News” short after his cameraman collapsed live on-air during the final segment.
A CBS spokesperson confirmed the event in a social media post, writing, “Tonight during the final segment of CBS Evening News, our cameraman on set suffered a medical emergency. Thankfully, he’s okay and recovering.”
Watch the moment unfold below:
CBS News camera man passed out on set. He’s now doing ok and is in recovery, I’m told. pic.twitter.com/w08yqbITa9
— Dylan Byers (@DylanByers) May 13, 2026
Dokoupil was reporting live from Taiwan during the Wednesday installment, beginning his final segment on “American decline and the rise of a powerful new China.”
It was during that line that the camera appeared to shake and blurred before jumping to b-roll of the city. Viewers can then hear a thud, apparently the cameraman collapsing, which wasn’t shown on camera.
“The Chinese certainly — is he OK?” Dokoupil asked the “CBS Evening News” crew, breaking mid-report. That was followed by indecipherable chatter.
“We’re going to take a quick break, we have a medical emergency here,” the anchor said. “We’re calling a doctor.”
A producer is then heard saying, “Call the doctor, please.”
The program then reverted back to the “CBS Evening News” studio, where a correspondent signed off for Dokoupil and cut to commercial.
Dokoupil was reporting this week from Taipei while covering President Trump’s trip to China to meet with Xi Jinping. The journalist reportedly failed to secure a visa in time to cover the presidential trip itself from Beijing, where network competitors from ABC News and NBC News are reporting on the ground.
Trump is due to meet with Xi on Thursday.
