Bari Weiss Makes Another Big Change at CBS News
What To Know
- CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss has tapped Norah O’Donnell to temporarily co-host CBS Mornings as the network continues its search for a replacement for Tony Dokoupil.
- A former CBS Mornings co-anchor and current senior correspondent, O’Donnell will also promote her new book during her guest hosting stint.
- O’Donnell recently spoke about the challenges and uncertainty caused by frequent leadership changes at CBS.
CBS Mornings is still looking for a new permanent co-host after Tony Dokoupil was promoted to CBS Evening News anchor in January, and CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss might have found the perfect replacement.
According to New York Post sources, Weiss and other executives asked CBS News senior correspondent Norah O’Donnell to lead CBS Mornings next Monday (February 23) through Wednesday (February 25) while she is in New York for her book tour.
O’Donnell, who previously co-anchored CBS Mornings from 2012 to 2019, will discuss her new book, We the Women: The Hidden Heroes Who Shaped America, co-authored with Kate Andersen Brower, on the Monday to Wednesday broadcasts and on CBS Sunday Morning, per a CBS press release.
One source told the Post that O’Donnell is just one of a rotating line-up of fill-in hosts until the network settles on Dokoupil’s permanent replacement. However, another suggested that something more could be in the works after Weiss commented on the strong ratings O’Donnell did when she previously co-hosted alongside Gayle King.
O’Donnell co-hosted CBS Mornings with King and Charlie Rose before moving on to anchor CBS Evening News. She was replaced on the evening broadcast in January 2025 with John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois. The Dickerson and DuBois pairing lasted less than a year before Weiss replaced them with Dokoupil.
Since stepping away from CBS Evening News, O’Donnell has remained at the network as a senior correspondent, with her reports featured across several shows, including 60 Minutes.
The longtime journalist opened up about the leadership changes at CBS on The Jamie Kern Lima Show on Tuesday (February 17), noting that her colleagues are “fearful” about the network’s future.
“I have worked at CBS now for, oh my goodness, probably almost 14 years, and have had a great career, whether it was covering the White House, anchoring the morning show, anchoring the evening news, working for 60 Minutes‚” O’Donnell said, per The Daily Beast.
She continued, “We have had a lot of leadership changes at CBS. That has been challenging, not only for me, but I know for my colleagues. And I think with so many leadership changes, people are fearful about what the future means.”
O’Donnell’s comments follow news that Anderson Cooper will be leaving 60 Minutes after the current broadcast season.
CBS Mornings, Weekdays, 7a/6c, CBS
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