Norah O’Donnell to Step Down From CBS Evening News Role After November Election

CBS Evening News anchor and managing editor Norah O’Donnell will step down from her position after the 2024 presidential election, remaining with CBS News to focus on big interviews and projects. “After this year’s election, I’ve decided I will be leaving my role as anchor and managing editor of the CBS Evening News to take on a new position at the network," O’Donnell said in a note to CBS News staffers. In her new role, O’Donnell will work on projects that will appear on the evening news broadcast and across other CBS News programming, including 60 Minutes and CBS Mornings. “I’ll still be anchoring all of our major coverage this year, election night and hopefully a debate! Beyond that, I’m pleased to share that I have made a long-term commitment to CBS News to continue to do the same storytelling and big interviews that have been our hallmark,” she added in her note. In a separate note to staffers, Wendy McMahon, president and CEO of CBS News, said, “The fact is…Norah’s superpower is her ability to secure and then masterfully deliver unparalleled interviews and stories that set the news cycle and capture the cultural zeitgeist." She added, “From her global exclusive with Pope Francis to her interviews with every living president, Norah’s newsmaking interviews always deliver for the audience. How many people can effortlessly shift from field-anchoring on an aircraft carrier in the Red Sea to sitting down with Bono and Dolly Parton? Norah's work here is legendary, and she has several major interviews in the works that will be equally memorable and momentous.” In her note, McMahon indicated that CBS Evening News will continue as a franchise for the network and that “we will share more about our plans soon, and we want to thank all our colleagues who contribute to its coverage every night.” The news of O’Donnell’s departure was first reported by Puck’s Dylan Byers. O’Donnell joined CBS News from NBC News in July 2011 and was the network’s chief White House correspondent covering the Obama administration of then-president Barack Obama. In the fall of 2012, she moved to New York to become a co-anchor on CBS This Morning (now CBS Mornings), where she remained for nearly nine years. In May 2019, then-CBS News president Susan Zirinsky announced that O’Donnell had been named anchor and managing editor of the CBS Evening News beginning on July 15, 2019. The evening news program would be broadcast out of the nation’s capital instead of New York. O’Donnell would also be the lead anchor of political events for the network and continue as a contributing correspondent for 60 Minutes. She re-signed with the network in April 2022. In her five years in this current role, CBS Evening News has continued to trail its timeslot competitors in total viewers and the Adults 25-54 demo. For the Week of July 22, CBS Evening News with O’Donnell finished up +9% in total viewers and +11% in the demo compared to the week prior (Week of July 15). When looking at the second quarter performance, CBS News’ evening broadcast was down in total viewers -10% compared to the first quarter of this year and down -4% compared to the same quarter in 2023. In the demo, CBS Evening News was down -7% compared to the first quarter and down -3% when put against the second quarter of 2023.

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Norah O’Donnell to Step Down From CBS Evening News Role After November Election

Mark Mwachiro

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