President Donald Trump is keeping a close eye on the changes happening at CBS News since billionaire David Ellison became CEO of the network’s parent company, Paramount.
Last week, Paramount purchased the independent news outlet The Free Press and named its co-founder, Bari Weiss, as the new editor in chief of CBS News. According to a report from the Status newsletter, Weiss has been busy meeting with staffers and reporters, including former CBS Evening News anchor Norah O’Donnell.
Trump addressed rumors that O’Donnell could be returning to CBS Evening News when speaking to reporters on Air Force One on Sunday (October 12), though he suggested it wouldn’t happen.
“So who’s going to be the head anchor at CBS?” he asked reporters, per Deadline. “Not Norah O’Donnell. I don’t believe it. I don’t believe it.”
He went on to praise David Ellison and his father, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, saying, “They’re friends of mine. They’re big supporters of mine. And they’ll do the right thing. They’ll make CBS — they called it the Tiffany Network, and it’s got great potential. CBS has great potential.”
O’Donnell joined CBS News in 2011, serving as anchor on several of the network’s highest-rated shows. She became the anchor and managing editor of the CBS Evening News in July 2019. In July 2024, CBS announced O’Donnell would step down from Evening News after the 2024 presidential election.
“This has been the honor of a lifetime to anchor this legacy broadcast,” O’Donnell said in her final broadcast back in January. “You know, the CBS Evening News is, for good reason, the longest-running evening newscast in America. It is powered by the finest journalists around the world — the correspondents, producers, researchers and crews who work tires loosely to bring you the news every night.”
She added, “And that won’t change, because journalism matters. I know that because I’ve heard it from so many of you, our viewers. So, from the bottom of my heart, thank you for trusting us and welcoming hard news with heart into your homes.”
CBS decided to shake up its Evening News broadcast with hosts John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois. Rather than focusing on the latest headlines, the show took on a more 60 Minutes-style magazine format, airing longer segments on specific topics.
However, the show’s ratings have dropped since Dickerson and DuBois took over, with an average of 4.1 million total viewers per episode, according to Nielsen numbers, compared to O’Donnell’s average of 4.8 million.
O’Donnell remains at CBS News, serving as a senior correspondent and conducting big interviews and enterprise work across the various CBS News platforms. Most recently, she moderated a discussion on Trump’s Middle East peace deal with Hillary Clinton and Condoleezza Rice.