CBS Evening News Star Quits as Network Tilts Toward Trump Era Rebrand

CBS News is facing a major shakeup as longtime anchor John Dickerson announced he’s leaving CBS Evening News—just months after billionaire David Ellison’s Skydance Media took control of the network and began reshaping it in the image of Donald Trump’s favorite news outlet.

Dickerson, 56, who has spent more than 16 years at CBS, confirmed his departure in a heartfelt Instagram post Monday.

“I am extremely grateful for all that CBS gave me—the work, the audience’s attention, and the honor of being part of the network’s history,” he wrote. “I will miss you.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by John Dickerson (@jdickerson)

The veteran journalist’s exit marks the first high-profile loss under CBS’s new editor-in-chief Bari Weiss, the controversial former New York Times columnist known for her conservative-leaning media startup The Free Press.

Sources inside CBS told Status that Weiss plans to “revamp” the network’s flagship broadcasts by bringing in Fox News personalities and reshaping the tone to be “less adversarial” toward the Trump administration.

Dickerson’s departure ends an illustrious run at CBS that included stints as host of Face the Nation, co-anchor of CBS This Morning with Norah O’Donnell and Gayle King, and political director in Washington.

He interviewed every living U.S. president—from Jimmy Carter to Donald Trump—often pressing them on issues of integrity and power. But his relationship with CBS began to sour last summer after the network’s parent company quietly paid $16 million to Trump’s presidential library to settle a lawsuit over a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris.

At the time, Dickerson publicly questioned the company’s ethics. “Can you hold power to account after paying it millions?” he asked in a viral op-ed. “Can an audience trust you when it thinks you’ve traded away that trust?”

The network’s leadership has undergone dramatic changes since Paramount Global merged with Skydance in August—a deal reportedly encouraged by the Trump administration.

Ellison, whose father Larry Ellison is one of Trump’s billionaire allies, wasted no time appointing Weiss to overhaul CBS News. She has since sought to recruit Bret Baier, Fox News’ chief political anchor, to host CBS Evening News once Dickerson departs.

Though Baier’s contract with Fox runs through 2028, Weiss has reportedly been in touch with several conservative figures to “broaden CBS’s appeal to Middle America.”

One CBS producer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said, “There’s this clear push to make the network look more like Fox. We’re seeing names floated for top slots who would have been unthinkable just a year ago.”

For now, Dickerson will continue co-hosting the broadcast through the holidays alongside Maurice DuBois, who has not announced whether he’ll stay.

In a statement, CBS News president Tom Cibrowski praised Dickerson as “the embodiment of integrity and curiosity,” adding, “We’ll have time to celebrate his extraordinary contributions before he signs off.”

But behind the scenes, staffers are bracing for what one insider described as a “seismic identity shift.”

According to The New York Times, Weiss recently confronted 60 Minutes producers over what she called “elitist bias” and even tried to book former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo—now a Fox News contributor—for a CBS panel on the Gaza ceasefire.

Pompeo declined, citing an exclusive on-air deal with Fox.

CBS’s transformation comes as Paramount Skydance eyes another colossal move: acquiring Warner Bros. Discovery, parent company of CNN and HBO.

If successful, the merger would further consolidate power in the hands of pro-Trump media allies, fueling concerns that the American news landscape is veering sharply right.

As one media analyst told Variety, “What’s happening at CBS isn’t just a rebrand—it’s a realignment of power in broadcast journalism. The old guard is out, and the new one is playing by Trump’s rules.”