CBS Evening News anchor Tony Dokoupil (YouTube Screengrab)
August 29, 2026
ALTERNET
President Donald Trump and MAGA’s revamp of CBS News does not appear to be going so well. Staff are reportedly turning on one another as viewership wanes from the rebooted network, and staff are fighting hard for a chunk of the network’s reduced audience.
“Insiders told RadarOnline.comarOnline.com the ambitious journos see each other as competition and are each playing to win. While Dokoupil was recently on vacation, correspondent Matt Gutman stepped into the CBS Evening News anchor chair and delivered 4.1 million viewers, the broadcast's best weekly performance in 17 weeks and its first time topping 4 million since March.”
"Tony is panicked," a source told Radar. "He knows television is a ratings business, and when your replacement suddenly delivers the biggest audience in months, people start asking questions."
Now, insiders said the men's relationship has “gone from frosty to downright hostile.”
The station’s viewership has lagged since the arrival of Bari Weiss, who was hired by CBS to be editor-in-chief of CBS News in October 2025, when Paramount Skydance acquired CBS. Weiss had no television-news experience, but she is the founder of the conservative Free Press, and she made sure to put her conservative stamp on the formerly unaffiliated news.
Former veterans called CBS News is a disgraced shell of a news organization after the firing of famed “60 Minutes” senior correspondent Scott Pelley, after gutting most of the rest of its staff.
Weiss’ renovation did not catch on with its audience, so after the ratings ticked up under Gutman, Dokoupil allegedly freaked.
A source told the Daily Mail in early August that they found it "odd" Dokoupil would leave his post for so long at such a pivotal time. The source added: "Everyone is entitled to a vacation, but when you are trying to build an audience and fighting to right a failing ship, taking a two-weeker is a head-scratcher.
"Makes you wonder if Dokoupil has given up," the source told Radar.
'Enthralled' Bari Weiss courts fired CNN star as struggling CBS News eyes massive shakeup
Bennito L. Kelty
August 28, 2026
Bennito L. Kelty
August 28, 2026
RAW STORY
CBS News head Bari Weiss at a conference in Idaho in July. (Brendan McDermid/Reuters)
CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss has been quietly courting fired CNN anchor Chris Cuomo to join her fledgling network.
In a Friday episode of Power Lines, media reporters Oliver Darcy and Jon Passantino revealed that Weiss has her sights set on Cuomo as a big-name acquisition for CBS News, whose ratings have been plummeting.
Cuomo is currently working for NewsNation, where he hosts his own prime-time show. He was fired by CNN in December 2021 after an investigation by the New York Attorney General revealed that he used his media sources to help his brother, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, amid sexual harassment allegations.
"This is kind of a curious one," Passantino said about the move. "Bari Weiss has been just enthralled with him, thinking apparently out loud that he's a very skilled broadcaster and somebody that she would like to have join the team."
Passantino noted that Weiss has been "shuffling a lot of desk chairs on that Titanic over there" at CBS News. Correspondents and producers at '60 Minutes,' the flagship program at CBS News, have been leaving or getting axed, and Weiss recently brought on former New York Times conservative columnist Ross Douthat.
"Apparently Weiss and Cuomo have even met in person about this," Passantino said, noting the meeting may have been "just another general conversation." However, the two have "even exchanged some texts," Passantino said.
Darcy confirmed, "Bari is definitely interested in bringing Chris Cuomo over to CBS News. There's no doubt about that...they did have a meal together," and "They exchanged texts, I'm told, fairly often with each other."
However, Darcy also noted that Cuomo is in a multi-year contract with NewsNation to stay on until 2028. On top of that, Cuomo is suing CNN for $125 million because of his firing, and Paramount-Skydance, the company that owns CBS News, is trying to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, which owns CNN. The merger has been held up by a judge after a dozen state attorneys general sued, though.
"It would be super uncomfortable," Darcy said about Cuomo coming on while suing CNN. "Just think about how totally wild that would be that she brings on somebody who is actively suing CNN."
CBS News head Bari Weiss at a conference in Idaho in July. (Brendan McDermid/Reuters)
CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss has been quietly courting fired CNN anchor Chris Cuomo to join her fledgling network.
In a Friday episode of Power Lines, media reporters Oliver Darcy and Jon Passantino revealed that Weiss has her sights set on Cuomo as a big-name acquisition for CBS News, whose ratings have been plummeting.
Cuomo is currently working for NewsNation, where he hosts his own prime-time show. He was fired by CNN in December 2021 after an investigation by the New York Attorney General revealed that he used his media sources to help his brother, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, amid sexual harassment allegations.
"This is kind of a curious one," Passantino said about the move. "Bari Weiss has been just enthralled with him, thinking apparently out loud that he's a very skilled broadcaster and somebody that she would like to have join the team."
Passantino noted that Weiss has been "shuffling a lot of desk chairs on that Titanic over there" at CBS News. Correspondents and producers at '60 Minutes,' the flagship program at CBS News, have been leaving or getting axed, and Weiss recently brought on former New York Times conservative columnist Ross Douthat.
"Apparently Weiss and Cuomo have even met in person about this," Passantino said, noting the meeting may have been "just another general conversation." However, the two have "even exchanged some texts," Passantino said.
Darcy confirmed, "Bari is definitely interested in bringing Chris Cuomo over to CBS News. There's no doubt about that...they did have a meal together," and "They exchanged texts, I'm told, fairly often with each other."
However, Darcy also noted that Cuomo is in a multi-year contract with NewsNation to stay on until 2028. On top of that, Cuomo is suing CNN for $125 million because of his firing, and Paramount-Skydance, the company that owns CBS News, is trying to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, which owns CNN. The merger has been held up by a judge after a dozen state attorneys general sued, though.
"It would be super uncomfortable," Darcy said about Cuomo coming on while suing CNN. "Just think about how totally wild that would be that she brings on somebody who is actively suing CNN."
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