CBS Evening News anchor Norah O’Donnell will leave the long-running news program after the 2024 presidential election in November.
The anchor confirmed the news to Dylan Byers of Puck News Tuesday. She became the anchor of the program in 2019, and also serves as the managing editor of the program.
After signing a new contract, Norah O’Donnell will now anchor “major cross-platform interview specials” while serving as a contributor to 60 Minutes, CBS Evening News, and other network news programs.
“The way our product is distributed is changing,” O’Donnell said. “How do we do those big interviews, that great storytelling, and share that in a different kind of way so it can reach a different kind of audience.”
In a letter written by O’Donnell, she shared that she feels its time to move in a different direction.
“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,” she wrote. “I see this as an opportunity. 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. Those interviews and reporting will be shared across the many platforms CBS offers – streaming, digital, primetime, Paramount+, and more. And in fact, we have a big interview coming up that I hope to share more details about very soon.”
CBS News President and CEO Wendy McMahon is reportedly planning to “challenge the traditional model” of television news in looking for a replacement for O’Donnell. Byers claimed it was unlikely the network would sign a high-dollar figure to step into the shoes vacated by the outgoing anchor. Instead, he argued, it was more likely the network used a rotating group of anchors to host the venerable news program.
