CBS’ Eleventh-Hour Call
Last Thursday, as Tony Dokoupil concluded anchoring the “CBS Evening News,” he delivered a programming note to the network’s viewers: Those interested in watching Donald Trump’s primetime address could stream the speech on CBS News’ streaming service.
Dokoupil did not mention airing the president’s speech on the network itself—which one would expect him to have done if that were the plan. The other two major broadcast networks, ABC and NBC, had shared their intentions much earlier in the day. It would be highly unusual for a broadcast network not to roll out its coverage plans two hours before a presidential address, especially one that had been announced three days earlier.
In any event, while the Bari Weiss-led network did not publicly disclose its coverage plans until 8 p.m., when it announced it would air the address during a primetime special anchored by Dokoupil, Status has learned that CBS News had privately…