‘CBS Evening News’ Unveils “Five Simple Principles” In Advance Of Tony Dokoupil’s Debut As New Anchor
CBS Evening News has unveiled “five simple principles” to guide the broadcast, as Tony Dokoupil prepares to take over as the new anchor of the broadcast on Monday.
Dokoupil, who has been a co-host on CBS Mornings, will be the sixth anchor of the newscast in the past 10 years. A revamp of the CBS Evening News has been one of the priorities of Bari Weiss, the founder of center-right opinion site The Free Press who was named in October to lead the news division.
The principles are:
- We work for you. That means you come first. Not our advertisers. Not politicians. Not corporate interests, including the corporate owners of CBS News.
- We report on the world as it is. We’ll be honest and direct with you. That means no weasel words or padded landings. We’ll tell you what we know, when we know it. Well update our reporting when we uncover new facts. And we’ll admit when we get it wrong.
- We respect you. We believe that our fellow Americans are smart and discerning. It’s our job to present you with the fullest picture — and the strongest voices on all sides of an issue. We trust you to make up your own minds, and to make the decisions that are best for you, your families and your communities.
- We love America. And we make no apologies for saying so. Our foundational values of liberty, equality and the rule of law make us the last best hope on Earth. We also believe in Franklin’s famous line about America as a republic — if we can keep it. We aim to do our part every night: One way to think about our show is as a daily conversation about exactly where we are as a country and where we are going.
- We respect tradition, but we also believe in the future. We embrace the tools that allow us to reach you where you are. Some of you will watch this show on linear television. Others will increasingly watch it on social media. What we can guarantee is that the tools will continue to change — but some things never will. One of those things is honest journalism.
Some of the principles reflect remarks that Dokoupil made in a video that debuted on Thursday. In those comments, he also addressed the issue of trust, saying that “on too many stories the press has missed the story. Because 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. And I know this because, at certain points, I have been you. I have felt this way too. I have 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.”
“So here’s my promise to you today and every time you see me in this chair: you come first. Not advertisers. Not politicians. Not corporate interests. And, yes, that does include the corporate owners of CBS. I report for you.”
Dokoupil is taking the network anchor chair at a time of intense scrutiny over Weiss and the motives of new Paramount CEO David Ellison. It comes at a time when the corporate parent is making a hostile bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, a massive transaction that will need Trump administration approval.
Some moves have fed suspicions that the Paramount owners are moving the news division rightward, in ways that will ultimately please Trump. As it sought the Trump FCC approval of its acquisition of Paramount, Ellison’s Skydance committed to hiring an ombudsman to take complaints about news coverage. The person selected, Kenneth R. Weinstein, is the former president and CEO of the Hudson Institute, a right-leaning think tank.
Weiss, meanwhile, generated a recent furor among some staffers at CBS News when she ordered a 60 Minutes segment pulled, even though it had already been completed and promoted. The segment spotlighted migrants who had been sent by the Trump administration to an El Salvadoran prison notorious for its poor conditions and torture methods. Among other things, Weiss said that the segment was “not ready” and that it needed to “get the principals on the record and on camera.” The segment, which was mistakenly posted online by one of the network’s Canadian partners, noted that they had sought an interview with Trump Department of Homeland Security officials but were declined.
Correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi said in a memo to colleagues that they “requested responses to questions and/or interviews with DHS, the White House and the State Department. Government silence is a statement, not a VETO. Their refusal to be interviewed is a tactical maneuver designed to kill the story.”
She wrote that “if the administration’s refusal to participate becomes a valid reason to spike a story, we have effectively handed them a ‘kill switch’ for any reporting they find inconvenient.” She wrote that the pulling of the story was “political” and a case of corporate interference.
The segment still has not aired, and was not included in the schedule for 60 Minutes‘ next new episode on Sunday.
