It was supposed to be a bold introduction to the nation for its newest evening news anchor.
CBS News was going to unveil Tony Dokoupil as the heir to Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite by flying, by private jet, from city to city for 10 days to show he is in touch with “average Americans” and not “elites.”
But the MAGA-coded tour was abruptly pushed off because of Donald Trump’s dramatic attack on Venezuela—and instead Dokoupil’s debut was from San Francisco on Saturday, traditionally the lowest rated day of the week.
After the broadcast, the outlet reported that he will return to his home base of New York City to continue his anchor duties sources told Variety.
Dokoupil, 45, was announced as the new anchor of CBS Evening News last month, despite network staffers calling the move an “insult” to the show’s storied legacy.
He then announced his plans for his new job in a two-and-a-half minute promotional video on New Year’s Day, in which he railed against “elites,” said the “legacy media” had lost trust, claiming he would reflect the experience of his “mom in West Virginia” and not “academics.”
“On too many stories, the press has missed the story,” Dokoupil said. “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.”
He deployed MAGA dog whistles to highlight which stories had been mishandled, including “Hunter Biden’s laptop” and “Hillary Clinton’s emails,” as well as mentioning “the president’s fitness for office,” without making clear it he meant current President Donald Trump or former president Joe Biden.
On Friday, the network—now owned by billionaire nepo-baby David Ellison thanks to cash from his Trump-aligned father, Oracle founder Larry Ellison—unveiled five new “principles” for its news coverage, including, “We love America—and we make no apologies for saying so.”
Dokoupil joined in the blitz by replying to critics on Instagram, telling one he would be “more accountable and more transparent than Cronkite.”
The 10-city U.S. tour was intended to “meet Americans face to face,” including—reportedly—DJ Khaled and David Beckham, who is British, in Miami. The Independent reported that other plans included broadcasting from private schools and tourist restaurants and having “fun” segments called “bon bons.”
Travel had to be by private jet because also on tour with Dokoupil would be Bari Weiss, the new editor-in-chief of CBS News who was brought in by Ellison when he bought her anti-woke website The Free Press. She travels with five armed guards in response to alleged security threats, making scheduled air travel impossible for her.
The tour has been rescheduled for “later this week,” the CBS News PR account shared on X.
Postponing it means Dokoupil will start making his anti-elite case for watching the persistently third-ranked network news from San Francisco, and then from Manhattan.
The 45-year-old former Daily Beast reporter who railed against “elites” was educated at $53,000-a-year Gulliver Preparatory School in Miami, whose alumni include Julio Iglesias’ and Jeb Bush’s children; George Washington University in Washington D.C.; and Columbia University in Manhattan. At Columbia he completed a master’s degree and started a PhD; on Friday he also railed on X against “the academy.” He lives in one of Brooklyn’s most expensive enclaves with his second wife Katy Tur, the MSNBC anchor, whom he met in a television green room. On Friday he also complained about “people on panels”; in 2024 he ran a panel at ComicCon in New York promoting CBS’ show Ghosts.
Prior to his new gig, Dokoupil—a one-time hair model—had anchored CBS’s morning show, CBS Mornings, since 2019. He drew both criticism and praise in 2024 for a controversial interview with writer Ta-Nehisi Coates. During the broadcast, he said Coates’ book The Message, which covered the conflict between Israel and Palestinians, wouldn’t be out of place in the “backpack of an extremist.” CBS executives said at the time that the interview did not meet editorial standards—but Weiss’ The Free Press trenchantly defended him.
Weiss’ credentials include her private education in Pittsburgh, Ivy League education at Columbia University and work for the Wall Street Journal and New York Times.
Since joining CBS News and launching its anti-elite push, she has signed up contributors including H.R. McMaster, a three-star general who was Trump’s national security adviser and has a PhD; the Tufts-educated former CIA officer Elliot Ackerman, a frequent New York Times writer whose father was a director of the Institute for Strategic Studies; and Clare de Boer, the British-born Manhattan chef whose restaurants offer a $45 tarte tatin and a $145 whole roasted duck.
The “we love America” network will now report on how the U.S. executed strikes in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas on Saturday morning, dividing members of Congress over their legality. Trump announced that the military had captured the country’s president and first lady, later sharing a photo of Maduro blindfolded. The president did not seek congressional approval before carrying out the operation, opening the door for a legal and political nightmare.
“We are going to run the country,” he said Saturday during a press conference. He also announced plans to seize Venezuela’s oil reserves.
The attack drew criticism across the globe, even from members of Trump’s own party. Former MAGA loyalist Marjorie Taylor Greene condemned the move online.
The Daily Beast has reached out to CBS News for comment.
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