Norah O’Donnell has forfeit her anchor chair.
CBS announced in July that O’Donnell would step down as host of CBS Evening News after the 2024 presidential election — and Thursday marked her final broadcast.
“As many of you know, this is my final Evening News broadcast,” she said. “It has been an incredible five and a half years, and I’m told we have a surprise guest — honestly, I don’t know who it is — to help us look back.”
The broadcast then cut to a pre-taped message by former Queen of Daytime, Oprah Winfrey, who congratulated O’Donnell on her tenure, then narrated highlight reel featuring interviews with everyone from Pope Francis to Dolly Parton.
“You have so much to be proud of,” Winfrey said. “Your work as the anchor and managing editor of the CBS Evening News has not only won awards, but more importantly, has made such a difference and informed our nation.”
When the montage concluded and O’Donnell reappeared, she was visibly overcome with emotion.
“This has been the honor of a lifetime to anchor this legacy broadcast,” she said. “You know, the CBS Evening News is, for good reason, the longest running evening newscast in America, and it is powered by the finest journalists around the world — the correspondents, producers, researchers and crews who work tires loosely to bring you the news every night. And that won’t change, because journalism matters. I know that because I’ve heard it from so many of you, our viewers. So, from the bottom of my heart, thank you for trusting us and welcoming hard news with heart into your homes. I will miss you, too, but I will see you on CBS news programs, including Mornings, 60 Minutes, Sunday Morning and in prime time. So, for the final time, that’s tonight’s CBS Evening News. I owe it all to everybody I work with honestly. Love you, good night.”
O’Donnell will now transition to a new role at CBS News. She will serve as a senior correspondent and continue to contribute to across the network’s portfolio of news programs. Meanwhile, fellow CBS veterans John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois will succeed O’Donnell behind the anchor desk, beginning Monday, Jan. 27.
O’Donnell was named host and managing editor of CBS Evening News in 2019, following a seven-year stint as co-anchor of CBS This Morning. She also serves as a correspondent on the network’s venerable newsmagazine 60 Minutes, and as a correspondent and occasional fill-in host on Sunday-morning program Face the Nation.
Prior to joining CBS News in 2011, O’Donnell enjoyed a 12-year run at NBC News, where she served as NBC’s Washington Bureau correspondent and MSNBC’s Chief White House correspondent, and contributed to Weekend Today and Dateline NBC.
“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,” Wendy McMahon, president and CEO of CBS News and Stations and CBS Media Ventures, said in a previous statement. “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….”
TVLine will update this post with video of Winfrey’s surprise appearance if/when it is made available. In the meantime, hit the comments and tell us if you will miss O’Donnell on CBS Evening News.
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