A veteran producer of “CBS Evening News With Tony Dokoupil” was fired this week after raising concerns about the program’s editorial direction.
Javier Guzman, who has worked for CBS News since 2017, was removed as senior producer on Wednesday, according to people familiar with the matter who were not authorized to comment. A CBS News representative said the company does not discuss personnel matters.
Guzman reportedly disagreed with the editorial direction of the evening newscast, which underwent an overhaul under CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss. Guzman did not respond to a request for comment.
The sudden departure on the third day of Dokoupil’s term added to a growing perception that the program is off to an unpromising start. Media industry newsletters and tabloids have become repositories of unattributed comments from CBS News insiders who are unhappy with the changes.
The latest iteration of the popular newscast has generated negative comments on social media about its content. On Tuesday, that included a light-hearted salute to Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a series of memes. It was a questionable choice days after a deadly U.S. military attack on Venezuela, in which special forces captured the country’s President Nicolas Maduro and his wife.
The same episode was also criticized for a brief article highlighting the anniversary of the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters who sought to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. The view of the historic event five years ago was presented as a difference of opinion between President Trump and Democratic congressional leaders.
The segments furthered the narrative among many media critics that Weiss is chasing MAGA-friendly viewers and seeking to please the White House as parent company Paramount pursues its Warner Bros. takeover. Discovery. She joined the network in October after Paramount acquired its digital news site Free Press, which often denounces the excesses of the political left.
On Wednesday, the day after Renee Good, a 37-year-old Minneapolis woman, was shot to death in her vehicle by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, “CBS Evening News” held a planned trip to Dallas as part of a multi-city tour to promote Dokoupil as its new anchor.
While Dokoupil said he wants “CBS Evening News” to focus more on the views of ordinary citizens and less on “elites” based in New York and Washington, his visit to Dallas included a helicopter ride with Jerry Jones, the billionaire owner of the Dallas Cowboys. There was also a brief segment on the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders.
Dokoupil secured a newsworthy interview that day with ICE chief Tom Homan, who notably refrained from commenting on Good’s fatal shooting while Trump and other administration officials rushed to label her a domestic terrorist. The program also quickly pivoted by going to Minneapolis, where it focused heavily on the reaction of shaken Minneapolis residents and anti-ICE protesters to the incident.
Dokoupil’s ratings are slightly above the season average, according to Nielsen, but still well behind “ABC World News Tonight With David Muir” and “NBC Nightly News With Tom Llamas.”
Dokoupil served as co-anchor of “CBS Mornings” before joining “CBS Evening News,” where he replaced the anchor duo of John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois.
