"It's been one blunder after another during the early days of the Tony Dokoupil era at CBS Evening News. From night one, the flagship broadcast of the Eye's news division has been marred by technical mess-ups, bizarre attempts to suck up to the Trump administration, low-key humiliation by President Trump, and an anchor who seems to think he has earned the right to pontificate at the end of the show like he's a latter-day Cronkite."
"All of these mess-ups might be forgotten if Dokoupil's presence or the changes his boss, Bari Weiss, have made to the telecast were bringing more viewers to the perennially last-place show. No sign that's happening: Per Nielsen, the CBS Evening News notched just 4.17 million viewers during Dokoupil's first week as anchor, on par with the show's season-to-date average and well below the same period last January."
"Well, they're definitely disappointing, given how much promotional firepower CBS trained on hyping Dokoupil's debut and the fact that it was a really busy news week last week. You would think there would be some rubberneckers who would come out to see what the new guy was all about, or that even some of his CBS Mornings viewers might show up."
CBS Evening News under Tony Dokoupil experienced technical errors, awkward outreach to the Trump administration, and on-air moments that invited criticism. Dokoupil's debut included visible production problems and an end-of-broadcast commentary style compared to Cronkite. Nielsen data show 4.17 million viewers during Dokoupil's first week, matching the season-to-date average and below last January. Heavy promotion and a busy news week failed to produce a ratings bump despite expectations and comparisons to previous anchors who drew nearly 5 million during their first week. Industry trends toward streaming and declining linear news audiences make gaining viewers more difficult.
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