Viewers have seen a number of changes occur at CBS News over the past few months. However, with these changes, CBS Evening News has been seeing a dip in ratings. Following this, some viewers believe one person in particular could be to blame for what’s going on.
CBS Evening News Has Been Dealing With Competition With ABC & NBC
Weiss is an editor and political commentator who was previously known for her work with The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. She is also the founder of The Free Press, previously known as Common Sense.
In October 2025, The Free Press was bought by Paramount Skydance. Following this, Weiss was installed as the editor-in-chief of CBS News.
Since then, viewers have seen a number of changes occur at CBS News. Various figures have also made their exit from the network, such as Anderson Cooper, who previously announced his departure from 60 Minutes. In addition, Tony Dokoupil became the anchor of CBS Evening News, taking over from Maurice DuBois and John Dickerson, after leaving CBS Mornings.
However, amid these changes, CBS Evening News has seen a drop in viewership, going to under 4 million after Weiss took over and appointed Dokoupil. According to Nielsen data, the overall audience for the five weekdays that ended March 13 was around 3.83 million. Only around 468,000 were among viewers between 25 and 54, a demographic desired by advertisers.
Weiss Was Recently Addressed By Name By A White House Staffer
Meanwhile, ABC’s World News Tonight earned around 8.48 million. This was followed by NBC Nightly News, which hit around 6.51 million.
According to Radar Online, many on social media have pinned the blame for the numbers on Weiss. As one person wrote on X, “Bari Weiss is running CBS into the ground.” Another sarcastically quipped, “This should lead to a nice promotion for Bari Weiss.”
As the outlet noted, this comes out amid accusations of the network having a political bias in recent months. Back in December, a 60 Minutes story that was critical of President Donald Trump and his administration was pulled from the air. At the time, correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi criticized the move, calling it a “political one.” Weiss herself responded to this, saying, “The only newsroom I’m interested in running is one in which we are able to have contentious disagreements about the thorniest editorial matters with respect and, crucially.”
This has also been reflected on social media. As one person shared, “I don’t think it’s Tony’s fault,” saying that people weren’t watching the show due to politics and “not the anchor.”
That said, Trump and the network have had some disagreements in the past. As previously reported, a White House staffer criticized the network hiring Jeremy Adler, who served as Trump critic Liz Cheney’s senior communications advisor. At the time, the source criticized Weiss directly, sharing, “What the hell is Bari Weiss thinking?”
Have you been following the recent changes at CBS Evening News? What do you think of this discussion? Make sure you come back to TV Shows Ace for all the latest TV and celebrity news.
John Witiw has been a writer since at least 2015. He’s covered a variety of topics, especially when it comes to film and television.
