Katie Couric wrote a guest essay for The New York Times in which she called out CBS for replacing Norah O’Donnell as the host of “CBS Evening News” with two men, Maurice DuBois and John Dickerson. Couric hosted “CBS Evening News” herself for five years from 2006 to 2011. Her issue is not with the new anchors themselves, as she’s a fan of both DuBois and Dickerson, but with their hiring now making the evening news on broadcast television a male-dominated space as Lester Holt already hosts “NBC Nightly News” and David Muir helms “ABC World News Tonight.”
“It was more than a little disappointing to read that Ms. O’Donnell would be replaced by two men, John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois,” Couric writes. “Don’t get me wrong: I know, like and respect these two journalists. But soon, on the big three networks, there will be four male anchors. Yes, the talented Margaret Brennan will be contributing stories from the Washington bureau for CBS, but the two people who will be greeting Americans watching the CBS evening newscast will be men.”
“More important, the three people behind the scenes, making most of the editorial decisions, will be three white men: Bill Owens, Guy Campanile and Jerry Cipriano,” she added about the producers in charge behind the scenes.
Couric praises Cipriano for always having her back during her own tenure on “CBS Evening News,” but she notes that “male writers occasionally have blind spots” and draws attention to the fact that the evening news will be dominated by male points of view during a year “that could result in the election of the first woman president, and first woman of color as president.”
“It’s a potentially historic story — one that needs a diverse group of journalists covering it,” Couric argues.
“Nearly 20 years ago, I wanted to be the face of ‘CBS Evening News’ because I knew that for the audience — especially little girls and little boys watching at dinner time — the image of a solo woman anchor could be game changing,” Couric writes later in the guest essay. “Whether it’s in politics, sports or other once-male-dominated fields, seeing diversity in leadership inspires our imagination about who can and should fill these roles.”
“The incoming anchors and executives will be curating the evening news for an aging audience — when you watch the commercials, it’s pretty evident which demographic is tuning in — but the broadcast still attracts over four million viewers on average every night,” she adds. “It’s odd and more than a little out of touch that even while CBS has announced a restructuring that introduces an additional layer of women executives, the leading editorial decision makers will mostly be men.”
CBS announced July 30 that O’Donnell will be stepping down as host of “CBS Evening News” after the 2024 presidential election in favor of a new role as a senior correspondent who will seek out big interviews and opportunities for deeper reporting. The network then announced Aug. 1 that DuBois and Dickerson would replace her.
Head over to The New York Times’ website to read Couric’s guest essay in its entirety.
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