{"id":278504,"date":"2026-02-11T10:01:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T10:01:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/278504\/"},"modified":"2026-02-11T10:01:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T10:01:07","slug":"maga-coded-cbs-anchor-tony-dokoupil-hit-with-mass-exodus-weeks-into-tenure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/278504\/","title":{"rendered":"MAGA-Coded CBS Anchor Tony Dokoupil Hit With Mass Exodus Weeks Into Tenure"},"content":{"rendered":"

CBS Evening News is reeling from a staff exodus just weeks after editor-in-chief Bari Weiss installed Tony Dokoupil as anchor. <\/p>\n

At least six of CBS Evening News\u2019 roughly 20 producers have taken voluntary buyouts ahead of looming company-wide layoffs, the New York Post<\/a> reported on Tuesday. <\/p>\n

Altogether, 11 opted for the buyouts, according to the Post, which cited sources with knowledge of the matter. The offer was reportedly extended to over 40 Evening News non-union staffers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a lot of people,\u201d a CBS insider told the outlet.<\/p>\n

Another source said, \u201cSeems like people are jumping ship.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TonyRoughly a quarter of Tony Dokoupil’s CBS Evening News team has reportedly quit. Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway\/The Daily Beast\/Getty <\/p>\n

Dokoupil\u2019s show suffered a ratings bloodbath<\/a> after he took over on Jan. 5\u2014and the viewership decline shows no sign of stabilizing<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The buyout offer came after Weiss, 41, dared the newsroom to quit if they couldn\u2019t get behind her vision at an all-hands meeting. <\/p>\n

Weiss has set out to give the network a MAGA-friendly makeover since CBS\u2019s new nepobaby owner, David Ellison, the son of Trump megadonor Larry Ellison, put her in charge in October.<\/p>\n

\"BariWeiss\u2019s troubled start as CBS News boss has been underscored by CBS Evening News\u2019 crashing ratings and Dokoupil\u2019s gaffe-filled tenure as anchor. Mike Blake\/Reuters <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a free country, and I completely respect if you decide I\u2019m not the right leader for you, or this isn\u2019t the right place at the right time,\u201d said the former anti-woke opinion columnist, who had no professional experience in TV news before assuming her new role.<\/p>\n

Weiss\u2019s troubled start has been underscored by CBS Evening News\u2019 crashing ratings and Dokoupil\u2019s gaffe-filled tenure as anchor. <\/p>\n

His debut broadcast was filled with awkward moments as he frequently stumbled over the teleprompter. Later, a series of awkward sign-offs, one of which saw the 45-year-old former CBS Mornings co-host \u201csalute\u201d Secretary of State Marco Rubio as the \u201cultimate Florida man,\u201d have drawn ridicule. <\/p>\n

Weiss replaced John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois with Dokoupil after reportedly failing to recruit Fox News host Bret Baier and CNN anchor Anderson Cooper. <\/p>\n

In the all-hands meeting, Weiss compared the nearly 100-year-old network to that of a start-up under her leadership. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut startups aren\u2019t for everyone. They\u2019re places that move at a rapid speed. They experiment. They try new things. They sometimes create noise and, yes, bad press,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Dokoupil\u2019s show is just the tip of the iceberg for Weiss\u2019s bad press.<\/p>\n

She sparked a mutiny among CBS staffers in December after she abruptly shelved a 60 Minutes segment that delved into the Trump administration\u2019s deportation of Venezuelan nationals to El Salvador\u2019s CECOT megaprison.<\/p>\n

Last week, anti-aging influencer Peter Attia, whom she had recently hired as a contributor, was revealed to have had a close relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. CBS has not yet fired Attia, 52, although it shelved plans to re-run a 60 Minutes interview with him.<\/p>\n

The Daily Beast has reached out to CBS for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CBS Evening News is reeling from a staff exodus just weeks after editor-in-chief Bari Weiss installed Tony Dokoupil…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":278505,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[109276,12791,156,61815,111,139,69,113763,437],"class_list":{"0":"post-278504","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-cbs-evening-news","9":"tag-cbs-news","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-maga","12":"tag-new-zealand","13":"tag-newzealand","14":"tag-nz","15":"tag-tony-dokoupil","16":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278504","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=278504"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278504\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/278505"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=278504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=278504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=278504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}