Tony Dokoupil pledges editorial independence from CBS owners days before ‘Evening News’ debut

Tony Dokoupil posted an unusual message to viewers acknowledging widespread distrust of legacy media and promising to prioritize “audience interests” over corporate owners as he prepares to launch as anchor of “CBS Evening News.”

“You come first. Not advertisers. Not politicians. Not corporate interests. And, yes, that does include the corporate owners of CBS,” said Dokoupil in the video message and blog post. “I report for you.”

The statement comes as CBS News navigates life under new ownership with Bari Weiss in a senior editorial role. 

The message directly addresses concerns that have emerged about CBS News’s editorial direction following a series of recent incidents, including the withdrawal of a “60 Minutes” story after comments from Weiss. 

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The decision to state explicitly in a network-published blog post that he will not defer to CBS’s corporate owners, including David Ellison and the Paramount leadership team, is an unusual move for a broadcast anchor set to take over a national broadcast.

Dokoupil cited examples of coverage he said had eroded public trust, listing NAFTA, the Iraq War, Hillary Clinton’s emails, Russiagate, COVID lockdowns, Hunter Biden’s laptop and the president’s fitness for office. Each topic has been central to debates about partisan bias in media coverage.

“On too many stories the press missed the story,” Dokoupil said, attributing the failures to relying on “advocates” and “academics or elites” rather than average Americans.

The anchor did not specify which “perspectives” were overlooked on the issues cited, nor did he detail how “CBS Evening News” coverage under his leadership would differ from the network’s previous approach to these topics. Broadcast networks have long faced criticism for presenting multiple perspectives on issues as equivalent, even when the factual weight or expert consensus differs significantly between them.

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Dokoupil wrote that he would “talk to everybody, and hold everyone in public life to the same standard,” and promised to acknowledge errors when they occur.

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Tony Dokoupil’s “CBS Evening News” begins Jan. 5 at 6:30 p.m. local time on CBS. The broadcast will air on CBS News 24/7 at 10 p.m. ET and stream on CBSNews.com, Paramount+ and the “CBS Evening News” YouTube channel.