As of Monday night the Dokoupil era of the CBS Evening News is underway.
The Connecticut native is the eighth person to hold the job since Dan Rather left in 2005. Before Rather, there was Walter Cronkite. The regular turn-over says something about television news and how the importance of the position of evening news anchor has diminished over the years.
There is added pressure on Dokoupil because he is taking over under the leadership of Bari Weiss and the ownership of Paramount Skydance led by David Ellison. There is a widespread belief in the media universe that both Ellison and Weiss intend to push CBS News in a conservative direction when it comes to coverage decisions. Before Dokoupil said “Good evening,” on Monday night there were stories suggesting CBS had been tipped off early about the U.S. raid in Venezuela, and Dokoupil scored an early interview with Secretary of Defense Peter Hegseth.
