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Tony Dokoupil commits to upcoming role at CBS Evening News will be independent from the show’s corporate owners, promising transparency and integrity to viewers to earn the public’s trust in the media.
“As long as I sit in this chair: You come first. Not advertisers. Not politicians. Not corporate interests. And, yes, that does include the corporate owners of CBS. I’ll report it for you” He bought it and said in a video message Thursday.
The veteran journalist, who has worked at NBC and MSNBC, will will officially take over the show next Monday, January 5. He follows in the footsteps of John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois, who recently announced their departure after less than a year on the job.
“A lot has changed since the first person chaired the Evening News. To me, the biggest difference is: People don’t trust us like they used to. And it’s not just us. This is all legacy media,” Dokupil said.
“In too many stories, the media misses the story. Because we consider the perspective of advocates rather than the perspective of ordinary Americans. Or we give too much weight to the analysis of academics or elites and not enough weight to yours.”
Dokupil was named anchor of the CBS Evening News last month as part of a series of changes at the network under new editor-in-chief Barry Weiss.
Weiss has faced controversy and criticism from within his own staff. It was reported last week that Weiss pull a section out of it 60 minutes Focuses on the Trump administration’s deportations of immigrants to a brutal maximum-security prison in El Salvador.
Sharyn Alfonsi, the journalist behind the article, described the decision to add the segment as “political.”
In his message, Dokupil pledged to block any companies from intruding on his coverage.
“I became a journalist to talk to people. I love talking to people about what’s working in this country, what’s not working, and not only what should change but also good ideas that should never change,” he said. “I think telling the truth is one of those things. Please keep me going.”
Not everyone shares his optimism, including former Fox News and NBC host Megyn Kelly, who declared on X: “Nothing is going to happen at CBS. Nothing is going to happen.”
“Traditional media is dead and evening news has been completely irrelevant for a long time. CBS has failed to attract evening viewers in any competitive way for more than a decade. This is irreversible,” Kelly wrote.