Tony Dokoupil Says He’s Learning That Anchoring ‘CBS Evening News’ Is ‘Not as Easy as It Looks’
What To Know
- Tony Dokoupil has faced challenges and criticism in his first weeks anchoring ‘CBS Evening News.’
- His comments distancing the broadcast from expert analysis and his interviews with figures like President Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth have sparked backlash on social media.
- Despite the rocky start and a 23% year-over-year ratings drop, viewership increased compared to the previous quarte.
Tony Dokoupil’s offhand comment at the end of Friday’s CBS Evening News broadcast indicates how he feels about anchoring the program after not even two weeks on the job.
Dokoupil hosted Friday’s broadcast from a steel plant in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and after he bid goodnight to viewers, the anchor turned to the steelworkers behind him and said, “You wanna trade jobs? This one’s not as easy as it looks. I’ve been learning that.”
“Do you want to trade jobs?” CBS News’ new MAGA anchor Tony Dokoupil complains to steelworkers that he has a hard job. Dokoupil, who simply reads the news out loud, doesn’t know what a hard job is. pic.twitter.com/jzZ8qdX05C
— Mike Sington (@MikeSington) January 17, 2026
After moving from CBS Mornings to replace departing Evening News co-anchors Maurice DuBois and John Dickerson, Dokoupil almost immediately set off a firestorm on social media.
In a video message CBS News posted on January 1, Dokoupil criticized legacy media for “miss[ing] the story” by “[taking] into account the perspective of advocates and not the average American” and “[putting] too much weight in the analysis of academics or elites.”
Dokoupil started his CBS Evening News job two days early, on January 3, to report on the U.S. airstrikes on Venezuela, but his conversation with U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth also put off viewers who deemed it an uncritical interview.
Two days later, as he made his official CBS Evening News debut, Dokoupil stumbled and stammered through 20 seconds of on-air confusion as he segued to the wrong segment and, later in the broadcast, offered the wrong state nickname for Minnesota.
The day after that, Dokoupil angered viewers with his reporting on a march of “pardoned defendants” from the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
And a week later, Dokoupil’s interview with President Donald Trump had social media users protesting what they saw as “softball” questions.
Amid the struggles, Dokoupil’s debut week at CBS Evening News era attracted 4.17 million viewers, down 23 percent from the same time last year but up from the 4.03-million-viewer average from the previous quarter, according to Deadline.
Watchlist Easy access to only the shows you care about — all in one simple place
Alerts Only important notifications — when a show is returning, when it becomes available to stream, and more.
Special Offers Exclusive products we release related to your favorite shows and streaming services