Tony Dokoupil has a New Year’s Day message for CBS Evening News viewers: He knows that legacy media has failed to retain that trust Americans once had in its work, and he intends to try and fix that.
The anchor, who will officially take over the program on Jan. 5, released a video Thursday with something of a manifesto for what he sees as the current state of affairs for media, promising independence from David Ellison and the Paramount leadership team, as well as any other political or corporate interested, while also acknowledging something that CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss has drilled into staff at the network since she took over just a few months ago: The trust in legacy media has eroded, and it needs to be revived someway, somehow.
“A lot has changed since the first person sat in this chair. But for me, the biggest difference is people do not trust us like they used to. And it’s not just us. It’s all of legacy media,” Dokoupil said in his video, adding that anger from consumers about topics like the Iraq war, Hillary Clinton’s emails, COVID lockdowns and Hunter Biden’s laptop underscored how skewed the nature of coverage was in favor of political and academic elites and away from the concerns of normal people.
“So here’s my promise to you today and every time you see me in this chair: you come first,” he added. “Not advertisers. Not politicians. Not corporate interests. And, yes, that does include the corporate owners of CBS. I report for you.”
Dokoupil takes over a CBS Evening News that has been stuck in a distant third place behind NBC Nightly News and ABC World News for years, and in a network news climate defined by that lack of trust and declining relevance and viewership.
He also takes on arguably the most important anchor job at CBS at a tumultuous time for the network, with staffers reeling after Weiss pulled a 60 Minutes segment days before it was set to air. The segment ultimately became widely available online thanks to a snafu involving the show’s Canadian broadcast partner.
In a Christmas Eve memo to CBS staff, Weiss framed the move as the right one.
“To win back their trust, we have to work hard. Sometimes that means doing more legwork. Sometimes it means telling unexpected stories. Sometimes it means training our attention on topics that have been overlooked or misconstrued,” she wrote. “And sometimes it means holding a piece about an important subject to make sure it is comprehensive and fair.”
It’s a point of view that Dokoupil seems wholly on board with.
“I tell you what I know, when I know it and how I know it. And when I get it wrong, I’ll tell you that too,” he said Thursday. “It also means I’m going to talk to everybody, and hold everyone in public life to the very same standard. After all, I became a journalist to talk to people. I love talking to people about what works in this country, what doesn’t, and not only what should change, but the good ideas that should never change. I think telling the truth is one them.
“I’m Tony Dokoupil, the anchor of The CBS Evening News. Hold me to it.”
Watch Dokoupil’s message below.
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