The highly anticipated debut of Tony Dokoupil as the new anchor of the "CBS Evening News" on January 6, 2026, was overshadowed by an awkward on-air stumble and subsequent questions about the broadcast's editing.
A Live Broadcast Hiccup Goes Viral
During the live broadcast, Dokoupil encountered a significant technical issue that left him visibly confused about which story to introduce next. The moment occurred after he concluded a segment on Venezuela. Viewers and other news outlets captured Dokoupil's live reaction.
"All right, to other news... to other news, now, to—" Dokoupil began, before stammering, "Uh, to Gov. [Tim] Walz! No, we're gonna do Mark Kelly." He then shook his head, smiled apologetically, and acknowledged the problem to the audience.
"First day, first day, big problems here," he said, before asking off-camera for clarification on whether the next segment featured Senator Mark Kelly or Minnesota correspondent Jonah Kaplan. After four seconds of silence and the sound of shuffling papers, a relieved Dokoupil finally announced the correct story.
The Edited Official Record
While outlets like the Independent, the Daily Beast, and Variety reported on the live mistake, the official recording later uploaded to the CBS News website and YouTube channel presented a different narrative. In that version, the transition from the Venezuela report to the Mark Kelly segment appears smooth, with the entire awkward exchange edited out.
This discrepancy prompted HuffPost to seek comment from CBS News regarding the decision to alter the archived broadcast. The edit has fueled online discussion about transparency in news broadcasting.
Broader Context at CBS News
The incident places a spotlight on the broader editorial environment at CBS News under its controversial editor-in-chief, Bari Weiss. Weiss, a former right-leaning opinion columnist, personally selected Dokoupil for the prestigious anchor role.
This scrutiny follows a recent decision by Weiss to pull a prepared "60 Minutes" episode about a prison in El Salvador, claiming it wasn't "ready." The correspondent, Sharyn Alfonsi, disputed this in internal emails reported by multiple news outlets, calling the last-minute cancellation a "political" decision rather than an editorial one.
Dokoupil's promotion from "CBS Mornings" to the evening anchor chair, once held by legends like Walter Cronkite, has also drawn industry speculation. Ahead of his debut, Dokoupil posted a video on Instagram promising viewers he would be a "trusted source" and report for them, not corporate or political interests.
When a commenter nostalgically mentioned Cronkite, Dokoupil responded ambitiously, "I can promise you we'll be more accountable and more transparent than Cronkite or any one else of his era." His challenging first night and the handling of its record now put that promise to an early test.
