After the 2024 presidential election, CBS Evening News anchor and managing editor Norah O’Donnell will leave.
PEOPLE reports that O’Donnell, who anchored the primetime program for five years, will remain at CBS and become a CBS News senior correspondent, conducting high-profile interviews on broadcast, streaming, digital, and Paramount+ platforms.
The veteran journalist will appear on CBS Evening News, 60 Minutes, and CBS News Sunday Morning.
“I love what I do, and I am so fortunate to work with the best journalists and people in the business,” O’Donnell, 50, said in a July 30 staff note. Our staff has won Emmys, Murrows, and DuPonts. Despite COVID-19, we anchored in-studio and aired from aircraft carriers to the Middle East and beyond. Our historic Pope Francis interview was an honor. So much effort to be proud of!”
“But I have spent 12 years in the anchor chair here at CBS News, tied to a daily broadcast and a relentless news cycle,” she said. “Change is needed.”
On July 30, CBS News president and CEO Wendy McMahon addressed O’Donnell’s internal transfer in her email to workers. The executive vowed the Emmy-winning veteran journalist will “do more of the storytelling and big interviews that are a hallmark of CBS News.”
“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,” she said, citing Pope Francis and “every living president” interviews. “Norah’s newsmaking interviews always entertain. How many individuals can easily transition from field-anchoring aboard a Red Sea aircraft carrier to dining with Bono and Dolly Parton? Norah’s work here is famous, and she has many significant interviews coming up that will be historic.”
O’Donnell’s exit raises doubts about CBS Evening News and its approach, although McMahon promised to “share more about our plans soon.”
Since joining CBS News in 2011, O’Donnell has held various high-profile jobs, including Chief White House correspondent during President Barack Obama’s administration, CBS This Morning co-anchor, and CBS Evening News anchor and managing editor in 2019. Her decades-long career includes two Emmys: one in 2009 for her work on NBC News’ 2008 Election Night coverage and another in 2018 for her six-month investigation into sexual assault claims at the U.S. Air Force Academy.