CBS Makes Big Changes to ‘CBS Evening News’ Program

CBS Evening News is entering a new era. As longtime journalist Norah O’Donnell made her exit from the evening broadcast last week, the news program is making major changes to its format.

Kicking off Monday, Jan. 27, co-hosts John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois dove into longer segments on top stories instead of rattling off more headlines with shorter segments. Included in Monday’s broadcast were in-depth segments on insurance challenges facing victims of California’s wildfires as well as China’s efforts to recruit members of the U.S. military for intelligence purposes.

The show also utilized its newly expanded team, which includes on-location reporters including Lonnie Quinn and Margaret Brennan, to cover issues like weather and politics from outside of the New York studio.

The changes for CBS Evening News have been a long time coming, as executive producer Bill Owens teased to Variety in August 2024. “We are removing the clutter. We are not going to be dealing with the things we think people might want to see, and we are going to be about real serious reporting,” he told the outlet of the time of the show’s new format.

He continued, “We are getting back to our beats, listening to our reporters in the field about what they have, not worrying about the headlines online or in the newspapers,” adding later of the show. “I believe we can resurrect it, do it a bit better and make people feel smarter.”

Some of these changes were introduced last week as O’Donnell bid farewell to her role on Evening News after nearly six years. O’Donnell will continue to serve as a senior correspondent across the various CBS News platforms.

“This has been the honor of a lifetime to anchor this legacy broadcast,” O’Donnell said on her final broadcast. “The CBS Evening News — for good reason — is the longest-running evening newscast in America. And it is powered by the finest journalists in the world.”

“The correspondents, producers, researchers and crews who work tirelessly to bring you the news every night. That won’t change because journalism matters. I know that because I’ve heard that from so many of you — our viewers,” she continued. “So from the bottom of my heart, thank you for trusting us and welcoming hard news with heart into your homes.”

As her colleagues applauded O’Donnell, she told viewers, “I will miss you too. So for the final time, that’s tonight’s CBS Evening News. I owe it all to everyone I work with. Seriously. Love you. Good night.”