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** OPINION
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** CBS News’ reset raises a hard question: Who is this for?
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(AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)

With all the news — good and bad, but mostly bad — generated by the Tony Dokoupil-led “CBS Evening News,” it’s hard to believe it has only been a week since he took over as anchor. Hand-picked by new CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss — whose own brief tenure has drawn well-deserved criticism — Dokoupil has had a series of questionable moments, from stumbles over which story was airing next to a cringeworthy and bizarre “salute” to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and comments about the anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Dokoupil said on air, “President Trump today accused Democrats of failing to prevent the attack on the Capitol, while House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries accused the president of ‘whitewashing it.’”

Media reporter Oliver Darcy wrote for his Status newsletter ([link removed]) , “Dokoupil’s breathtaking both-sides framing of an attack carried out by a mob of ardent Trump followers sparked swift and widespread criticism, both inside and outside CBS News.”

CNN media reporter Brian Stelter wrote in his “Reliable Sources” newsletter ([link removed]) , “Some high-profile CBS News staffers were aghast … when Dokoupil's brief mention of the Jan. 6 anniversary was a both-sides mess.” Stelter added, “Very Fox-y, right?”

Mehdi Hasan, the veteran journalist and founder of Zeteo, tweeted ([link removed]) , “Literally the worst kind of ‘both sides’ journalism. What an embarrassment.”

And The xxxxxx’s Sarah Longwell had this interesting comment on X ([link removed]) : “Trump is getting exactly what his rich buddy paid for.”

Longwell was referring, of course, to Larry Ellison, who bankrolled his son David’s takeover of Paramount, the parent company of CBS. David Ellison put Weiss in the editor-in-chief spot, for which many believe she is woefully underqualified (she has never worked in TV news before). And it was Weiss who put Dokoupil into his lofty position.

Darcy wrote for his Status newsletter that the Jan. 6 “both-sideism” comment from Dokoupil was “not only surely welcome at the Trump White House, but also highlighted a reality hovering over CBS News itself. Indeed, Dokoupil’s disgraceful framing served as a reminder that Larry Ellison, the billionaire Oracle co-founder who bankrolled his son’s takeover of CBS News’ parent company, Paramount, assisted Trump’s efforts to try to overturn the 2020 election.”

Back in 2022, The Washington Post’s Isaac Stanley-Becker and Shawn Boburg reported ([link removed]) that Larry Ellison “participated in a call shortly after the 2020 election that focused on strategies for contesting the legitimacy of the vote, according to court documents and a participant.” Others on that call included South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham; Fox News host Sean Hannity; Trump attorney Jay Sekulow; and James Bopp Jr., who the Post described as an attorney for True the Vote, a Texas-based nonprofit that has promoted disputed claims of widespread voter fraud.

Darcy wrote, “Ellison has never publicly stated his views on the election. But his actions speak loudly. After 2020, he went on to spend millions of dollars backing Republican candidates who promoted election denialism in the 2022 midterms, helping entrench the false narrative that the vote had been stolen from Trump.”

And now, here we are years later, and the newly installed anchor of the “CBS Evening News” is giving dubious remembrances about a day that threatened our democracy.

The “CBS Evening News” has been stuck in third place for a while now, well behind ABC’s “World News Tonight” and the “NBC Nightly News.” So, could this “CBS Evening News” reset resonate with viewers?

That’s a tough one. The right-of-center approach will turn off many viewers who don’t like the current direction of the country. Yet, the new CBS approach might not be right enough for those who get their news from the very right-leaning Fox News or places such as Newsmax or One America News, which are essentially state TV for the MAGA movement.

Rodney Benson, a professor of media and communication at New York University, told The Washington Post’s Scott Nover and Laura Wagner ([link removed]) that there could be a niche for the new “CBS Evening News.”

Benson added, “That’s dangerous if it normalizes some very bad stuff, but CBS News could also be a place — kind of like the Wall Street Journal — where if you report critically on this administration it will have more impact than if it comes from the usual suspects.”

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** Contest now open!
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The 2026 Poynter Journalism Prizes contest is now open for entries. Awards honor journalism excellence in accountability, public service and justice reporting, to writing, editorials and columns, innovation, diversity and First Amendment work. Two new categories for climate change and poverty coverage are being added this year. Early bird entry fee of $75 until Jan. 31. Deadline is Feb. 13.

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** More concerns
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The other worrisome approach from the Ellisons is that they are hotly pursuing Warner Bros Discovery, which owns CNN. There has already been an indication that if the Ellisons were to take over WBD, they would make changes to CNN. So far, WBD has rebuffed Paramount’s hostile takeover attempts and seems determined to follow through on an agreement with Netflix.

However, Netflix’s deal does not include WBD’s cable TV properties, which include CNN. If the Netflix deal does come to fruition, could Paramount jump in and buy CNN and the other cable TV channels? Theoretically, yes. But Paramount has made it clear that it wants all of WBD, not just some of its parts. The real jewels of WBD are the film and TV studios, its gaming business, HBO Max and HBO.


** Letterman blasts CBS
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David Letterman, shown here in May 2025. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

David Letterman used to call CBS home. He spent more than 20 years hosting a late-night show on the network until retiring in 2015.

But in a new video on his YouTube channel ([link removed]) , Letterman blasted his old network, saying, “By the way, what about those idiots at CBS? CBS News is a wreck. It’s just gone.”

Before that, Letterman praised ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, saying, “What people don’t understand is, Jimmy Kimmel single-handedly brought the people at Disney and all of those other network television owners to their knees. Jimmy Kimmel singlehandedly … made them seem and appear to be the fools they are and continues to call attention to the plight. And also Seth Meyers, he’s very good. And I’m telling you, we’re running out of places where you hear these voices. And Stephen Colbert and that franchise, adios.”

Letterman claimed that if America “had a Democratic president who behaved the way Trump has, Kimmel would go after that president, too.”

And then that’s when Letterman went in on CBS.

He said the network once earned a stellar reputation because of the likes of Edward R. Murrow. But these days, integrity has been “trampled on, pissed on and eviscerated by these idiots that have taken it over.”


** Pushing back
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CNN’s Jake Tapper handled himself formidably during an interview with U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem during Sunday’s “State of the Union.”

Tapper showed Noem a video from Jan. 6, when Trump supporters attacked law enforcement. He compared that to Noem’s claims that Renee Good, the Minneapolis woman shot and killed by an ICE agent last week, posed a physical threat.

Tapper said to Noem, “Those are law enforcement officers being physically attacked. By this standard, would any of those officers be justified in shooting and killing the people causing them physical harm?”

Noem gave a mildly surprising answer, saying, “Every single situation is going to rely on the situation those officers are on. But they know that when people are putting hands on them, when they are using weapons against them, when they’re physically harming them, that they have the authority to arrest those individuals.”

OK, two things. There’s a big difference between arresting someone, as Noem said, and shooting them in the face, as the ICE agent did in Minneapolis. In addition, Tapper pointed out to Noem that those Jan. 6 insurrectionists were pardoned by President Donald Trump.

Noem tried to dance around Tapper’s question by saying Trump is enforcing all rules equally, and Tapper pushed back by saying, “I just showed you video of people attacking law enforcement officers. Undisputed proof, undisputed evidence. And I just said President Trump pardoned all of them. And you said that President Trump is enforcing all the laws equally. It’s just not true. There’s a different standard for law enforcement officials being attacked if they’re being attacked by Trump supporters. We just saw that.”

Noem’s response pretty much evaded Tapper’s tough but fair points.


** Signing off
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Sunday was the final broadcast of “PBS News Weekend.” PBS cancelled the show due to the loss of federal funding for public media.

In addition, “PBS News Weekend” anchor John Yang will leave PBS at the end of the month. He has been at the public broadcaster since 2016.

According to TheWrap’s Alyssa Ray ([link removed]) , Yang said, “We’re proud of the creativity and the dedication they brought to each and every segment week in and week out. I’ll be leaving PBS News at the end of the month, as I step back from full-time work. But, I’m delighted to say that many members of this team will be sticking around.”


** Media tidbits
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* Maria Ramirez Uribe of Poynter’s PolitiFact with “The White House said Maduro was ‘flooding’ the US with fentanyl. Experts and official reports disagree.” ([link removed])
* There was no “60 Minutes” on CBS on Sunday. The network carried a Golden Globes red-carpet preshow and then aired the 83rd Golden Globes award show. Comedian Nikki Glaser was host.
* Matt Ryan, the former Atlanta Falcons star quarterback, said goodbye Sunday to CBS’s pregame show, “The NFL Today,” after three seasons in which he showed much talent as a studio analyst. He’s stepping away because he was just named the Falcons’ president of football. It’s a way more powerful position than the executive position that Fox Sports game analyst Tom Brady has with the Las Vegas Raiders. That is why Ryan can’t possibly do both jobs, while Fox News doesn’t view Brady as having a conflict of interest. (Although, to be fair, there are those who think Brady should be forced to choose between the two jobs.)
* By the way, Brady had a superb weekend analyzing the 49ers-Eagles playoff game and has really developed into a good broadcaster. This moment ([link removed]) talking about throwing a football in the wind was excellent.
* The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand reports ([link removed]) that David Cone will not return to ESPN’s Major League Baseball coverage in 2026. Cone has been a part of ESPN’s “Sunday Night Baseball” booth along with play-by-play announcer Karl Ravech and analyst Eduardo Pérez for four years. But NBC is taking over “Sunday Night Baseball” and ESPN will now carry weeknight games. Cone will continue to be an analyst for the New York Yankees’ YES Network. NBC has not announced who its analysts will be, so Cone could end up there, but that’s just speculation. Marchand reports former big-league stars Clayton Kershaw and Anthony Rizzo are under consideration for roles at NBC/Peacock. Marchand also reports ESPN is considering adding former major-leaguer Joey Votto in a broadcasting role.


** Hot type
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* “CBS News Sunday Morning” and host Jane Pauley featured Oprah Winfrey in “‘Enough’: Oprah Winfrey on her weight-loss lessons.” ([link removed]) And here’s Pauley’s extended interview ([link removed]) with Winfrey.
* Bob Weir, one of the founding members of the legendary Grateful Dead, has died. He had been battling cancer and lung issues. He was 78. The New York Times’ Jon Pareles has an appraisal in “Bob Weir Was the Dead’s Invisible Thread.” ([link removed]) And here’s the Times’ Jacob Gallagher with “Bob Weir, a Virtuoso of Hot Pants.” ([link removed])


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Have feedback or a tip? Email Poynter senior media writer Tom Jones at [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) .

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