CBS Evening News Anchor Reveals He Is Leaving Network ASAP

A shake-up is rocking CBS News.

Veteran journalist Maurice DuBois is officially leaving the network later this month — marking the second high-profile exit from the “CBS Evening News” in just two months and leaving the storied broadcast without a single anchor for the first time since the Walter Cronkite era.

DuBois, 59, who joined CBS in 2004 and has long been a fixture on the network’s New York station WCBS, took over co-anchoring duties alongside political correspondent John Dickerson in January 2025. Their pairing was meant to restore stability to the nightly newscast after years of turnover.

Instead, it lasted less than a year.

Dickerson announced his own departure in October, citing “new opportunities,” and now DuBois has told staff his last day will be December 18. “It’s been the honor of a lifetime to be welcomed into your homes night after night,” DuBois wrote in an emotional Instagram post Thursday morning. “I’ve met extraordinary people and told their stories. Thank you for trusting me with yours.”

CBS executives did not immediately name a replacement. A source close to the network told RadarOnline-style reporters that “the search is on — but it’s messy.”

Bari Weiss, recently appointed editor-in-chief of CBS News by Paramount’s new CEO David Ellison, has reportedly been quietly recruiting new anchor talent from rival networks. “She’s looking for a bold, younger face,” the insider said, adding that Weiss has reached out to several on-air personalities at ABC, CNN, and NBC.

Industry watchers say the DuBois and Dickerson departures come amid a major realignment at CBS News, which has struggled to keep pace with ABC’s juggernaut World News Tonight with David Muir and NBC’s Nightly News with Lester Holt.

Media analyst Jeff McCall told Variety earlier this fall, “CBS has a legacy problem — viewers associate it with the past. They need a dynamic identity to compete in the streaming era.”

In a memo to staff, CBS News president Tom Cibrowski praised DuBois for his two decades of work. “Maurice has long represented what we do best at CBS News and Stations,” he wrote. “He’s delivered the day’s biggest stories from our studios and from the field. He’s respected by everyone who’s worked with him, and we hope to collaborate again in the future.”

DuBois, who was born in Long Island to Haitian immigrant parents, began his career at WFLD in Chicago before returning to New York. Known for his calm demeanor and measured tone, he has covered some of the nation’s biggest moments — from the September 11 attacks to Hurricane Katrina.

DuBois has not revealed his next move. Industry insiders speculate he could jump to a streaming network or launch his own production company.

Whatever comes next, his departure signals a new identity crisis for CBS News — one of television’s most historic brands now facing a future without its familiar faces.

As one former executive put it bluntly: “When your anchor desk goes dark, so does your credibility.”