„CBS Evening News“ anchor Tony Dokoupil stumbled through his first regular broadcast Monday night.
“CBS Evening News” anchor Tony Dokoupil stumbled through his first regular broadcast Monday night, tripping over a teleprompter pivot and leaving viewers with several seconds of dead air as he struggled to decide which segment to report.
Dokoupil, newly installed as anchor of “CBS Evening News,” had already been thrust into the spotlight over the weekend after hosting a special Saturday edition to cover the American capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.
Monday’s broadcast was his first scheduled turn in the chair following the appointment by Bari Weiss, the CBS News editor-in-chief who tapped Dokoupil for the job last month.
The show opened with continued coverage of Venezuela, where Dokoupil closed a segment by framing the US operation as a strategic blow to rival powers operating in the region.
“What is it actually about?” he said.
“Well, if you zoom out a bit, you can maybe see the outlines of an answer. For decades, Russia, China, and Iran have been building a presence in Venezuela … With Maduro now out, that base of power and influence could be out too.”
Dokoupil, who had urged viewers to hold him accountable before taking over the anchor chair, then attempted to move the program along.
“All right, to other news,” he said.
“As you just heard from Jill, well, to other news now. Uh, to Governor Walz. No, we’re gonna do Mark Kelly. First day, first day, big problems here. Uh, are we going to Kelly here or are we gonna go to Jonah Kaplan?”
The confusion was followed by roughly four seconds of silence as the broadcast stalled on live television.
“We’re doing Mark Kelly,” Dokoupil continued after the pause.
