The executive producer for CBS Evening News may be let go amid a stretch of subpar ratings for the Tony Dokoupil-anchored show, according to a report.
The weeknight program, which Dokoupil has led since the beginning of the year, dipped below 4 million average viewers last week, Nielsen data showed. Rival networks ABC and NBC, meanwhile, drew in about 8.5 million and 6.5 million viewers per night, respectively.
Because of that, a CBS News source told the New York Post on Wednesday, executive producer Kim Harvey may become a “sacrifice...to the ratings gods.”
“It’s pretty terrible. Once you’re under 4 million, you’ve got to be worried that you’re in a death spiral,” another CBS insider told the outlet. “If they can’t retain an audience in the middle of a war, God help you when the war ends.”
A person familiar with the matter told the Daily Beast that during the second week of the war, CBS, NBC, and ABC all lost viewers compared with the prior week. They added that this Monday’s broadcast had 4.3 million viewers.
Sources told the Post that changes to the show’s set and graphics may foreshadow Harvey’s exit. Beginning Monday, Dokoupil was shown in a wider shot in front of a world map.
Reached for comment, a CBS News spokesperson told the Daily Beast in a statement that it is “ludicrous to suggest that a show’s executive producer could be replaced because we changed a camera angle.”
They added: “We’re excited about the new version of the CBS Evening News, and thrilled that our viewers are too. Since relaunch, the show is up 7% in viewers and 10% in the demo.”
The Daily Beast has also reached out to Harvey for comment.
If Harvey—promoted to top producer last August—does end up departing, she would be joining two other top producers for the CBS Evening News.
In January, during Dokoupil’s first week, senior producer Javier Guzman was fired, with one source telling The Wrap it might have related to a falling-out with Harvey.
Last month, producer Alicia Hastey, who was among at least 11 CBS Evening News staffers to take a buyout, wrote in a farewell letter to colleagues that journalists at the network were being forced to “self-censor.”
Hastey wrote that “there has been a sweeping new vision prioritizing a break from traditional broadcast norms to embrace what has been described as ‘heterodox’ journalism.”
“The truth is that commitment to those people and the stories they have to tell is increasingly becoming impossible,” she added. “Stories may instead be evaluated not just on their journalistic merit but on whether they conform to a shifting set of ideological expectations.”
This created “a dynamic that pressures producers and reporters to self-censor or avoid challenging narratives that might trigger backlash or unfavorable headlines.”
At least two high-profile CBS figures, Justice Department correspondent Scott MacFarlane and 60 Minutes correspondent Anderson Cooper, reportedly cited the network’s rightward shift as one reason they decided to leave.
In MacFarlane’s case, another factor was how Dokoupil presented the fifth anniversary of the Jan. 6 insurrection.
Looking ahead, there are rumored layoffs of at least 15 percent of CBS staffers.
