Travel Blog

Tony Dokoupil is the new anchor of the CBS Evening News, replacing John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois. He’s handsome and likable and earnest, judging by his sermon that was pasted on to the end of Friday’s newscast. He denounced the elitism traditionally found in New York City newsrooms and painted himself as a man of – or at least a deliverer of news for – the people.

Clearly, the new chief of news at CBS, Bari Weiss, sees Dekoupil as someone who can bring in the new generation. At 45, he’s 12 years younger than the boyish Dickerson, with little sign of his predecessor’s political acumen. Which, Weiss probably believes, is to his advantage.

It all reminds me of my last year at the Sun-Sentinel (2008) when everybody – editors, managers, reporters – racked their brains trying to come up with ideas, innovations, graphics that would bring in the younger generation. It was, I knew even then, before we all had screens in our pockets, a hopeless endeavor. There was nothing we could come up with that would get young people to read the newspaper. That ship had sailed.  

It's the same situation with the evening news. No young people are going to sit down at 6:30 to watch a man read from a teleprompter about events they are uninterested in or have already gotten wind of on social media. The days of widely read newspapers and widely watched news shows are over. And no pretty face is going to bring them back.

PS Dokoupil was called into service early, on Saturday evening, for the Venezuela story. At one point, speaking of Maduro, he said “the apprehending of he and his wife.” With grammar like that he’s going to lose viewers like me.