CBS News has named “CBS Mornings” co-host Tony Dokoupil as its new anchor of “CBS Evening News,” elevating one of editor-in-chief Bari Weiss’ favorite personalities to one of the news organization’s most focal programming slots.
Dokoupil starts on Jan. 5 with a “cross-country tour” across American cities and towns. The network confirmed Dokoupil’s appointment on Wednesday’s “CBS Mornings,” with co-hosts Gayle King and Nate Burleson celebrating their colleague’s promotion to the tune of “The Jeffersons” theme song “Movin’ On Up.”
Dokoupil said he was grateful for the nearly seven years he’s spent as a “CBS Mornings” co-host, but that he was excited for the opportunity to lead the next era of “Evening News.”
“It’s a massively important show,” Dokoupil told his co-anchors. “It has a massively important history. It’s the oldest, boldest, most storied, battle-scarred and proud show, I think, in television news.”
In a statement, Weiss said that, while trust in the media has reached new lows, “Tony Dokoupil is the person to win it back.”
“That’s because he believes in old school journalistic values: asking the hard questions, following the facts wherever they lead and holding power to account,” she said. “Americans hungry for fairness will see that on display night after night.”
Dokoupil’s appointment marks the first major programming change in Weiss’ two-month tenure as CBS News’ editor in chief. Since Weiss’ appointment in October, following Paramount’s $150 million purchase of the Free Press, she has overseen the departure of CBS News’ standards chief, the exit of both co-hosts of “Evening News” and a wave of layoffs. Weiss will also incorporate more of the Free Press’ content into CBS News, Free Press publisher Dennis K. Berman told Axios.
It also ends months of speculation over who would anchor the beleaguered primetime hour, which has sagged in the ratings behind ABC and NBC since the appointment of John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois as co-anchors in January. Weiss reportedly sought to lure cable hosts like Anderson Cooper and Bret Baier to the network, but both are locked into contracts with CNN and Fox News, their respective cable-news homes.
Weiss’ interest in Dokoupil predates her tenure atop CBS News’ masthead. After Dokoupil interviewed author Ta-Nehisi Coates about his book referencing the Israel-Gaza war, Weiss led coverage of CBS News leadership’s admonishment of Dokoupil and defended his pointed questioning of Coates’ position on the war.
On Tuesday, Weiss also announced the hiring of ABC News’ Matt Gutman as CBS News’ chief correspondent, the first on-air hire at the network under Weiss’ leadership.
