Norah O’Donnell’s run as anchor of CBS Evening News is coming to an end, but the veteran journalist is not leaving CBS News.
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O’Donnell is set to leave the anchor desk after the 2024 presidential election — her seventh U.S. election she has covered as a journalist — and will become CBS News special correspondent at the network. In her new role, she will conduct newsmaking interviews and other reports for CBS News programming with appearances on CBS Evening News and 60 Minutes .
“In this new role, Norah will have the time and the support to deliver even more of the exceptional stories she is known,” wrote Wendy McMahon, president and CEO of CBS News and Stations, in a memo to staff (full note below).
In her new role, O’Donnell will contribute newsmaker interviews across CBS platforms, including streaming, digital, primetime and Paramount+. That will include appearances on other news broadcasts besides CBS Evening News .
Until her transition to a new post, O’Donnell will continue to handle ongoing coverage of the U.S. presidential election, including the upcoming Democratic Convention, before moving to her new role. “There’s so much work to be proud of! But I have spent 12 years in the anchor chair here at CBS News, connected to a daily broadcast and the rigors of a relentless news cycle. It’s time to do something different,” O’Donnell wrote in a memo to staff Tuesday.
“Beyond that, I’m pleased to share that I have made a long-term commitment to CBS News to continue to do the same storytelling and big interviews that have been our hallmark,” she added.
The change is a big one for CBS, and lots of eyes will be on the network as it determines what happens next with the stories evening newscast, which has counted Walter Cronkite and Dan Rather among its former anchors.
O’Donnell replaced Jeff Glor as the face of the network’s flagship news program as anchor and managing editor in July 2019 with a renewal of her deal that was to run through to the 2024 election. She has led CBS News’ flagship broadcast from Washington, D.C.
Previously, O’Donnell was co-host of CBS This Morning since 2012. Before that, she served as CBS News’ chief White House correspondent during the President Barack Obama administration.
O’Donnell deciding to leave the anchor desk at CBS Evening News after the U.S. election is not related to the proposed takeover of Paramount Global by Skydance, according to sources close to CBS. But she is the second high-profile person at CBS to announce plans to segue into new role just this month.
Two weeks ago CBS News president Ingrid Ciprian-Matthews stepped down , shifting to a senior adviser role through the 2024 election. She told staff at the time that “our industry and company are going through a transformation and a number of short- and long-term decisions need to be made. I do not want to be disingenuous with any of you about who should drive these decisions.”
In her own memo, O’Donnell seemed to echo those comments.
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“I don’t need to tell you what a transformative time our business is facing. I see this as an opportunity,” she wrote. “I want to thank Wendy McMahon as this new role will also allow me to extend the reach of the work we do to new audiences in new ways.”
“In fact, we have a big interview coming up that I hope to share more details about very soon,” O’Donnell teased.
McMahon’s full memo is below:
Hi everyone,
Just a few moments ago, Norah O’Donnell shared her decision to step away from the Evening News desk after the election, moving into a new role at CBS – a role that will enable her to, as she notes, do something different, and thankfully for us, do more of the storytelling and big interviews that are a hallmark of CBS News, as well as Norah’s illustrious career.
The fact is… Norah’s superpower is her ability to secure and then masterfully deliver unparalleled interviews and stories that set the news cycle and capture the cultural zeitgeist. From her global exclusive with Pope Francis to her interviews with every living president, Norah’s newsmaking interviews always deliver for the audience. How many people can effortlessly shift from field-anchoring on an aircraft carrier in the Red Sea to sitting down with Bono and Dolly Parton? Norah’s work here is legendary, and she has several major interviews in the works that will be equally memorable and momentous.
As Norah noted in her email, this is a transformative time in our industry, where we have the challenge and the opportunity to connect with viewers in entirely new ways, and she is uniquely positioned to do so for CBS. In this new role, Norah will have the time and the support to deliver even more of the exceptional stories she is known for across our shows and streams, across CBS Network and Paramount+. She will have the real estate and flexibility to leverage big bookings on numerous platforms, including primetime specials, 60 Minutes, CBS News Sunday Morning, and more.
But first, there is an election to cover, and Norah will continue to lead our political coverage, including the Democratic National Convention and Election Night. We look forward to Norah’s ongoing coverage of this important political cycle.
I know many of you will have questions about what this means for the CBS Evening News moving forward. Please know we remain committed to its mission, we will share more about our plans soon, and we want to thank all our colleagues who contribute to its coverage every night. As Norah said, her Evening News signoff is not anytime soon, and we look forward to seeing her reporting and interviews now and in the future.
Wendy
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