Norah O’Donnell Stepping Down as ‘CBS Evening News’ Anchor
Norah O’Donnell is stepping down as anchor of CBS Evening News after spending five years as the face of the program.
Puck‘s Dylan Byers reported on Tuesday (July 30) that O’Donnell will relinquish her anchor spot after the 2024 presidential election cycle in favor of a new deal with CBS that includes more platforms for her interviews and specials. She will still contribute to other CBS programs, including her current stomping grounds at CBS Evening News and 60 Minutes.
O’Donnell told Byers, “The way our product is distributed is changing. How do we do those big interviews, that great storytelling, and share that in a different kind of way so it can reach a different kind of audiences?”
Before becoming a CBS mainstay, O’Donnell worked for NBC’s smattering of programs, including as commentator for The Today Show, MSNBC correspondent, and contributor for NBC Nightly News and Dateline NBC.
At CBS, she became coanchor of CBS This Morning in 2012 before becoming the primary anchor of the series in 2019, replacing Jeff Glor. O’Donnell was just the third woman to anchor the show, after Connie Chung and Katie Couric. She got her start as a part-time anchor in 2011 before becoming co-anchor in 2012.
In a memo addressed to staff, Wendy McMahon, president and CEO of CBS News, wrote, “Norah’s work here is legendary, and she has several major interviews in the works that will be equally memorable and momentous. The industry is changing so rapidly. There is an urgency to transform and drive revenue around audience growth.”
Byers also reported that her replacement at the anchor table may be a series of rotating news anchors.
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R
I'm glad we will continue to see Norah on TV. I enjoy seeing her every night, she's been a great anchor to the evening news. I always enjoy her humanity, when there is a particularly emotional story, you'll see Norah eyes tear up. I like her compassion in an age where we see far too little of it.
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R
I would love to see Norah ascend to Margatet Brennan's position on Face the Nation, so that we can have objective reporting. It will be nice to see Norah on feature stores on the 60 Minutes team as well.
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R
O’Donnell is superb at delivering the news. It was apparent that she did copious research on stories. I look forward to hearing further reporting from her.
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Norah was the best anchor, since Walter Cronkite, she was the face of the news and you can trust her, she will be great at her next endeavor.
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Norah is good at interviews, not so much at keeping political feelings neutral, as anchor should.
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Please bring back Jeff Glor!
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J
I find Glor to be dull and lifeless. I guess the CBS powers-that-be agreed.
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J
This part is misleading: "she became coanchor of CBS This Morning in 2012 before becoming the primary anchor of the series in 2019, replacing Jeff Glor. O’Donnell was just the third woman to anchor the show, after Connie Chung and Katie Couric." This makes it sound like Glor, Chung, and Couric were all primary 'anchors' of CBS This Morning. In truth, O'Donnell was co-anchor of This Morning, but Chung, Couric, and Glor were all anchors for the CBS Evening News. As O'Donnell is now. I enjoy watching her do the evening news, and will miss her. (I was noticing tonight, as I have before, that she often wears white.)
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R
It's about time to see a disrespectul know it all leaving. Hopefully a respectful true journalist will take her place.
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Why fo uou feel this way?
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Wow what got you riled up? Disrespectful never. Reports the straight forward as she should. Because you may not like what is stated doesn’t make her disrespectful.
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So do you prefer someone from Fox News?
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