Norah O’Donnell’s last day behind the anchor desk of “CBS Evening News” will be Jan. 24, CBS News announced Friday, setting a timeline for a transition to a new format for a venerable news program that was part of the program , under various names, since 1941.
O’Donnell, who became anchor of ‘Evening News’ in July 2019, moves to a new role as senior correspondent, where she will contribute special reports built around entrepreneurial work or interviews with prominent newsmakers. She will continue to contribute to “Evening News,” “60 Minutes” and other CBS News programs. The arrangement is believed to be part of a long-term commitment between the anchor and CBS News.
O’Donnell’s departure schedule will have her on hand during Donald Trump’s inauguration as the nation’s 47th president in late January.
A new “CBS Evening News,” set to debut from New York on Monday, Jan. 27, will rely on a broader group of correspondents, rather than a single anchor. The new on-air team will include co-hosts John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois, chief weatherman Lonnie Quinn and Washington-based “Face The Nation” moderator Margaret Brennan. The show will take place under the auspices of Bill Owens, who is also the executive producer of ’60 Minutes’. Owens said Variety in August, it wants to create a new show that works to break news and provide more depth, rather than trying to sift through dozens of items that surfaced earlier in the day in less than half an hour.
O’Donnell’s work at “CBS Evening News” is recognized by many arbiters of quality journalism. CBS tested whether the program was based in Washington DC, in the middle of Donald Trump’s first presidency. O’Donnell used the program to present investigations into how the military investigates claims of sexual harassment and abuse, a topic in which she may have a greater interest as both her father and sister served in the U.S. Armed Forces. In 2023, she anchored the program live for two evenings from the deck of the USS Nimitz while it was active in the South China Sea.
Her work to secure direct interviews with prominent personnel resulted in a sit-down with Pope Francis earlier this year, and in 2019 she was able to pressure Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman over the killing of journalist Jamal Khashogghi, according to intelligence reports he orchestrated.
At the same time, the August show, which has ties to Walter Cronkite, has for decades ranked third behind ABC’s “World News Tonight” and NBC’s “NBC Nightly News,” prompting several executives at CBS to tinker with the program. on a regular basis. While ABC News and NBC News have supported evening news for years with anchors like Sawyer and David Muir or Brian Williams and Lester Holt, CBS News has continued to move talent in and out of the show. Since Dan Rather’s departure in 2005, CBS has tapped Bob Schieffer, Katie Couric, Harry Smith, Scott Pelley, Anthony Mason and Jeff Glor to anchor “Evening News.”