Katie Couric, former anchor of CBS Evening NewsShe commented on the network’s recent overhaul of its late-night broadcasts, calling it “a bit disappointing” that Norah O’Donnell’s successors would be two male anchors.
The network recently announced that John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois will host the show. CBS Evening News After O’Donnell resigned following the November election.
Coric Written in an opinion article In The New York Times, “Don’t get me wrong: I know, like and respect these two journalists. But soon, on the big three networks, there will be four male anchors. Yes, the talented Margaret Brennan will contribute stories from CBS’s Washington bureau, but the two people who will greet Americans watching the CBS Evening News will be men.”
As Couric noted, after the change, the three networks’ evening newscasts will be anchored by men, with Lester Holt at NBC and David Muir at ABC. Brennan, the “Evening News” program director facing the nationHe will be a regular contributor to CBS’s broadcast, leading political news coverage from Washington, D.C.
The news division is led by a woman named Wendy McMahon, who is the CEO of CBS News & Stations. Last week, McMahon unveiled a new leadership structure at the network, with Adrienne Roark and Jennifer Mitchell taking on expanded roles. Roark was named editor and newsgathering chief of CBS News & Stations, and Mitchell was named president of stations and digital for the division.
“For nearly 20 years, I wanted to be the face of the CBS Evening News because I knew that the image of a single female anchor could be a game changer for audiences — especially the young girls and boys who watch the show at dinnertime,” Couric wrote. “Whether it’s politics, sports, or other once-male-dominated fields, seeing diversity in leadership inspires our imaginations about who can and should fill those roles.”
“New anchors and executives will be tailoring the evening newscasts to an aging audience — when you watch the commercials, it’s pretty clear which demographic is tuning in — but the broadcast still draws an average of more than four million viewers each night. It’s strange and somewhat incongruous that even though CBS hasn’t had an evening newscast in recent years, it still airs the evening news live. It was announced “A restructuring that introduces an additional layer of female executives will make key editorial decision-makers predominantly men.”
Bill Owens, Executive Producer of 60 minutesHe will take on additional responsibilities as a supervising producer. CBS Evening News.
O’Donnell, who has been anchor since 2019, will continue to work for the network as a lead correspondent, focusing on “important” interviews. She was the second woman to anchor the show alone. CBS Evening NewsCouric co-anchored the newscast from 2006 to 2011. Connie Chung also co-anchored the newscast with Dan Rather from 1993 to 1995.
Paramount Global, the parent company of CBS News, is currently undergoing extensive staff and cost cuts, while the evening newscasts are no longer having the impact they once did, Couric noted.
“But even an industry that might one day be seen as a relic of a bygone era needs to reckon with the societal changes sweeping the country,” she wrote, noting the impact of female athletes at the Olympics and the possibility of a female president being elected this fall.
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