Anchor changes look likely at “CBS This Morning,” but the network’s news president is pushing back on a New York Post report that Gayle King is behind efforts to oust her co-anchor, Norah O’Donnell.
The Post’s Page Six Thursday published a story with the headline: “Gayle King pushes out Norah O’Donnell at ‘CBS This Morning.’ ” The story said King “demanded O’Donnell be moved off the show as part of her recent contract negotiations.”
CBS News President Susan Zirinsky rejected the assertion: “This headline is offensive and 100 percent false,” she said in a statement, without elaborating, or confirming reports of an anchor shakeup.
King, who recently signed a lucrative new contract extension, has been in the spotlight lately with widely lauded interviews of two embattled subjects, musician R. Kelly and Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam.
Variety reported Thursday that O’Donnell and co-anchor John Dickerson soon will leave the morning broadcast. King will remain as chief anchor and be joined by news division colleagues Anthony Mason and Tony Dokoupil, the trade publication said. Another co-anchor, Bianna Golodryga, left the network in April.
Dickerson is widely expected to join flagship newsmagazine “60 Minutes,” and O’Donnell is reportedly in talks to anchor the “CBS Evening News,” replacing Jeff Glor.
Mason, a longtime CBS correspondent, anchors the Saturday edition of “CBS This Morning” and Dokoupil joined the network as a correspondent in 2016.
The network is expected to announce personnel shifts ahead of its annual presentation to advertisers on May 15, but News division spokeswoman Christa Robinson said CBS wouldn’t “engage in speculation” about the moves.
