Tony Dokoupil becomes anchor of “CBS Evening News”

Tony Dokoupil (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

Tony Dokoupil is taking over as anchor of  the “CBS Evening News” weeknight broadcasts, saying “Don’t just trust me. Make me earn it.”

Dokoupil moves from the mornings, where he had been part of the anchor team for “CBS Mornings” since 2019.

He represents the first major hire for Bari Weiss, the Free Press editor installed this fall as CBS News editor-in-chief following the network’s corporate takeover by Paramount. Dokoupil replaces the pairing of John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois, who both left the network recently after co-anchoring the broadcast for about a year.

In a video message, Dokoupil said about how he will bring his imprint to the nightlight broadcasts, “The point is that on too many stories, the press 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.

“I know this because, at certain points, I have been you. I have felt that 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 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 report for you.”

You can watch the “CBS Evening News” weeknights at 5:30PM on Action 8.