Norah O’Donnell Exits Ahead of Hard Pivot for ‘CBS Evening News’

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Contrary to viewer expectations, Norah O’Donnell bid farewell from “CBS Evening News” on Thursday night. Starting from Monday, a new program with comparable qualities will take her place.

After an unexpected appearance by Oprah Winfrey in a taped segment, O’Donnell said goodbye to viewers who had followed her long-running broadcast. Highlights of her career were shown, and she thanked the audience for allowing “hard news with a personal touch” into their homes. As the show ended, O’Donnell was seen surrounded by colleagues and family as the credits played. Starting next week: a redesigned version of the program, striving to distance itself from its past, when Walter Cronkite and Dan Rather used to inform the nation about the day’s most significant events at the end of their broadcast day.

As a movie lover, I’m thrilled to share that CBS is introducing a fresh take on their “Evening News” format. Instead of relying on a solo anchor, they’re opting for a team approach. The idea behind this shift is to give the national broadcast a familiar, local-news feel, mirroring the programs viewers of CBS stations enjoy nationwide. This move acknowledges the changing landscape of news consumption, where audiences increasingly prefer headlines and information from streaming and digital platforms rather than traditional sources.

It’s clear that there are many similarities. The visuals on “CBS Evening News” Thursday night resembled those from New York’s WCBS 6 p.m. news broadcast earlier in the day, which aired before O’Donnell’s last show. During his final broadcast, one part focused on WCBS meteorologist Lonnie Quinn, who will play a significant role in the updated version of the program.

For quite some time now, “CBS Evening News” has been trailing behind ABC’s “World News Tonight” and NBC’s “NBC Nightly News.” However, during her tenure, anchor Norah O’Donnell managed to achieve a small victory: last week, the show attracted an average of 5.037 million viewers, slightly surpassing its usual viewership figures in a period marked by significant national upheavals. Despite numerous challenging pieces that delved into military sexual assault investigations, her journalistic integrity has never been called into question or faced criticism for being biased or inaccurate. Additionally, she was successful in securing an interview with Pope Francis, which is no small feat in the world of journalism.

As a devoted viewer myself, I’m excited to share that starting soon, CBS will debut an “Evening News” hosted by John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois. In addition to delivering the latest news, Quinn will provide weather updates, and Margaret Brennan, currently moderator of “Face The Nation,” will offer insight on Washington and politics. This new format is designed to unite the CBS News team with our local station counterparts, a goal that senior executives at CBS and Paramount Global have been discussing for months.

With cost-cutting measures being a top priority for Paramount under current circumstances, this move might be just the beginning. Further changes are expected once the company is acquired by Skydance Media, which is anticipated later this year. In the new “Evening News,” you might not see Dickerson and DuBois out in the field as much as before, as they will rely more on our talented correspondents who specialize in covering specific regions where important news stories unfold.

Whether audiences will flock to it remains anyone’s guess.

The charm of nightly news broadcasts across all networks lies in their role as a reliable summary of the day’s significant happenings and tales. Unlike their cable-news counterparts, they lack the heated discussions, but “Breaking News” headlines have become more frequent recently within their graphics. These shows serve as a steady refuge for pharmaceutical advertisers, who remain one of the primary supporters of traditional TV. While they may not attract young viewers as much as a Netflix binge of “Squid Game,” they still manage to gather millions of people during a single half hour. Perhaps there’s a certain excitement in witnessing a single host navigate politics, culture, international stories, and a dash of pop culture within less than thirty minutes.

The potential issue with CBS next week is that viewers who watched O’Donnell, as well as Jeff Glor, Anthony Mason, Scott Pelley, Katie Couric, and Bob Schieffer prior to her, might anticipate a continuation of the familiar style rather than something new or different.

O’Donnell has some additional tasks ahead. She is set to assume senior correspondent responsibilities, which will involve securing high-profile interviews and undertaking enterprise projects that will appear on various CBS News channels. Given the current financial strain faced by numerous major TV news entities – with CNN and NBC News announcing layoffs this very day – it seems she may have secured a more advantageous position.

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2025-01-24 04:16