Newly-installed CBS Evening News anchor Tony Dokoupil is reportedly among the reasons why the network’s top Justice Department correspondent left.
Scott MacFarlane, who announced his exit Monday, was the latest high-profile talent to depart the network, joining the likes of 60 Minutes correspondent Anderson Cooper. And like Cooper, Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss’ transformation of CBS was determinative, a new report claims.
MacFarlane, multiple people familiar with the situation told Status, wasn’t on board with Weiss’s overtures to conservative audiences.
For instance, MacFarlane was “appalled and disheartened” when Dokoupil, on CBS Evening News, noted the five-year anniversary of the Jan. 6 insurrection with a both-sides treatment.
MacFarlane, who extensively covered the fallout from Jan. 6, vented to some colleagues about the coverage, according to Status, but it’s unclear if he did so to Weiss or other network leaders.
Dokoupil’s Jan. 6 broadcast was just his second official day in the anchor’s chair. That same night, the former MS NOW correspondent and Daily Beast reporter drew negative attention—just 24 hours after a troublesome debut—by giving a “salute” to Secretary of State Marco Rubio as the “ultimate Florida man.”
Some CBS staffers trashed Weiss’ selection of Dokoupil at the time. The 45-year-old previously co-hosted CBS’s morning show.
“It’s an insult to the storied news giants who came before him,” one reporter told The Independent.
MacFarlane’s announcement, Status added Monday, also came at a time when he was stretched thin at CBS, where he oversaw coverage of complex, evolving topics, like Jan. 6, Donald Trump’s pardons and the Epstein files.
Representatives for CBS News and Weiss did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Beast. A CBS News spokesperson and a representative for MacFarlane declined to comment to Status.
MacFarlane, who joined CBS in 2021, told colleagues in his departure note that he would be looking forward to “some independence.”
“I will always value the opportunity I had to work alongside the talented and committed professionals here. I’m proud to have had the words “CBS correspondent” next to my name—always will be,” he said. “For the next phase of my career, I look forward to some independence and finding new spaces to share my work in line with my personal goals. I thank you all. The work will not stop, and I’ll always be a call away.”
