Newly minted host of “CBS Evening News” Tony Dokoupil had a message for viewers to ring in the new year, but not everyone was on board with his new approach for the legacy network’s reporting strategy.
Dokoupil outlined a new direction for CBS News, vowing to focus on the perspective of the average American after years of media putting too much weight on “advocates … academics or elites.” The anchor, who filled the seat once held by Walter Cronkite, Norah O’Donnell and Dan Rather, was appointed under the new corporate ownership of Paramount and the stewardship of new editor-in-chief Bari Weiss.
“CBS News has fallen,” Dr. Kevin Young wrote in a post to X, following the anchor’s social media PSA video. “Americans must now rely on international news outlets rather than US based state run media for factual journalism.”
CBS News has fallen.
— Dr. Kevin M. Young (@kevinmyoung) January 1, 2026
Americans must now rely on international news outlets rather than US based state run media for factual journalism. https://t.co/nr2cWBFr82
Another user mocked the anchor asking, “Why is CBS posting Tony Dokoupil’s Fox News audition tape?”
In his straight-to-social media video, Dokoupil named several stories that Americans believe the press missed over the years: NAFTA, the Iraq war, Russiagate, COVID lockdowns, Hunter Biden’s laptop and “the president’s fitness for office.”
“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,” he said. “And I know this because at certain points, I have been you. I have felt this way too. I felt like what I was seeing and hearing on the news didn’t reflect what I was seeing and hearing in my own life, and that the most urgent questions simply weren’t being asked.”
Keep reading for more reactions to Dokoupil’s introduction as anchor of “CBS Evening News.”
Absolutely! You wouldn't want "academics and elites" who have actually studied a subject to outweigh the off-the-cuff opinions of village idiots. This is how we're seeing the resurgence of measles, and the widespread belief in almost non-existent vote fraud, among many other… https://t.co/Ouodl7Flx0
— Larry Sabato (@LarrySabato) January 1, 2026
The job of a journalist is not to repeat back to me what I see and hear; it’s to report everything in full, and with context. Don’t tell me what I think I already know; increase my knowledge by telling me things I didn’t. https://t.co/UEELRuqfSr
— Stephen Whitty (@StephenWhitty) January 1, 2026
Why is CBS posting Tony Dokoupil's Fox News audition tape?
— Greta (@GretaGrace20) January 1, 2026
i did not expect this from Tony https://t.co/uA4XnR9ABP
— John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) January 1, 2026
.@tonydokoupil
— Don Winslow (@donwinslow) January 1, 2026
This will be true only until your "news" conflicts with what @bariweiss, @CBSNews and Donald Trump and his administration want told IMO.
Feel free to condemn what happened recently with @60Minutes as proof of your commitment to truth.https://t.co/2ogIIWC78K
Why don't you just report all the objective facts and not talk about or include the "perspectives" of anyone? What a bizarre post by CBS News.
— Kyle Hunter, FRMetS (@KyleHunter) January 1, 2026
As the culture moves against MAGA, @bariweiss has moved towards it. Liberals will abandon CBS and the right will still just watch Fox. She will ensure the Ellison money is set on fire. https://t.co/mwj0mgqngw
— Neera Tanden🌻 (@neeratanden) January 2, 2026
