‘CBS Evening News’ Anchor Tony Dokoupil ‘Cannot Catch a Break’: ‘Morale Around the Show Is Awful’

Tony Dokoupil has been plagued by a series of unfortunate events since he took over as anchor of CBS Evening News earlier this year.

Most recently, it was reported (via the New York Post) that CBS failed to obtain a visa for Dokoupil to be in Beijing, where President Donald Trump is meeting with China’s President Xi Jinping. And as Dokoupil was broadcasting live from Taiwan on Wednesday, May 13, a cameraman suffered a medical emergency.

“Everything keeps going wrong,” an insider told journalist Rob Shuter for a Thursday, May 14, report in his Naughty But Nice Substack. “The teleprompter problems, the ratings collapse, the visa disaster, now a medical emergency live on-air. Tony cannot catch a break.”

Reports that CBS News was allegedly unable to get Dokoupil, 45, to the capital of China, where NBC News’ Tom Llamas and ABC News’ David Muir are on the ground, made the network “look completely unprepared,” a source told Shuter.

“People inside the building are literally joking about ‘The Tony Curse’ now because every big moment somehow turns into another mess,” the source added.

Dokoupil has faced multiple setbacks since he was named anchor in December after a major shake-up at the news network.

As the National Enquirer previously reported, Dokoupil came under fire just days after he started his position for getting emotional on air and interviewing his mother for a lighthearted segment.

Ratings have also appeared to drop. (While numbers vary on a weekly basis, USA Today reported on May 1 that the show brought in less than 4 million viewers for three consecutive weeks, and the Status newsletter — via MS Now — reported that the week beginning April 20 “marked the lowest-rated stretch in total viewers since Dokoupil took over the broadcast” in January.)

“At this point, morale around the show is awful,” another source told Shuter. “Nobody thinks Tony himself is the problem — but right now, nothing around him seems to work.”

During Wednesday’s CBS Evening News, Dokoupil abruptly paused the segment and could be heard saying, “Is he okay? We’re going to take a quick break. We have a medical emergency here.”

“We’re calling a doctor,” he said off camera.

In a statement shared later on X, the network said, “Tonight during the final segment of CBS Evening News, our cameraman on set suffered a medical emergency. Thankfully, he’s okay and recovering.”

According to a CBS News press release obtained by People, the network said Dokoupil was reporting from Taiwan because the democratic state is “at the center of the high stakes talks as China’s geopolitical tensions with Taiwan run high.” The network said Dokoupil was reporting “on what’s at stake and why it matters for Americans.”