Third Place Norah O'Donnell Exits Anchor Role At CBS Evening News

On her 51st birthday, Norah O’Donnell bid farewell to viewers of the CBS Evening News Thursday after a surprise taped cameo from Oprah Winfrey which celebrated the anchor and showed many highlights of her tenure. 

According to Variety, O’Donnell thanked the audience for welcoming “hard news with heart into your homes,” and was spotted being surrounded by colleagues and family as the show’s credits began to roll. 

Starting Monday: a completely overhauled edition of the program that is taking pains to break many visual ties to the days when Walter Cronkite and Dan Rather told the nation what was most important at the end of their day.

CBS will launch a new “Evening News” that relies on a group of co-anchors, rather than a single person. One of the goals is to maintain the national program with the look and sensibility of the local-news programs that viewers of CBS stations see across the U.S., a nod to the fact that local broadcasts tend to still have traction among audiences who are more prone to get their headlines and information from streaming and digital sources than in the past.

Already, the similarities are evident. The graphics used on “CBS Evening News” Thursday evening looked just like those on display for the 6 p.m. broadcast of the local news from New York’s WCBS that preceded O’Donnell’s last round. During O’Donnell’s last broadcast, one segment centered on WCBS meteorologist Lonnie Quinn, who is slated to have a significant role in the new edition of the program.

After five years in the anchor chair, @NorahODonnell signs off from the CBS Evening News tonight. Her reporting has not only made history, but also resonated deeply with viewers across the nation. This isn’t goodbye — Norah will remain a vital part of the CBS News family as a… pic.twitter.com/bDi0xVYssA

— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) January 24, 2025

“CBS Evening News” has been stuck in third place behind ABC’s “World News Tonight” and NBC’s “NBC Nightly News” for years. O’Donnell didn’t change that. 

In her place, CBS will launch an “Evening News” led by John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois, with Quinn adding weather and Margaret Brennan adding to her duties as moderator of “Face The Nation” on hand to offer perspective on Washington and politics. The new format will help accomplish a goal touted for months by senior CBS and Paramount Global executives: bringing together the news teams of CBS News and the CBS local stations. 

The maneuver takes place as Paramount is under extreme pressure to cut millions of dollars from its operating costs.