CBS News’ new era begins with press freedom concerns and technical stumbles

As I mentioned in Monday’s newsletter, Tony Dokoupil was supposed to start his new gig as anchor of the “CBS Evening News” on Monday, but his debut was moved up to Saturday following the big breaking news over the weekend of the U.S. invasion of Venezuela.

His debut featured a lengthy interview with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. While Dokoupil did a decent job pressing Hegseth on who was actually in charge of Venezuela at that moment, Hegseth’s appearance overall did not sit well with some.

In a column, Mediaite’s Colby Hall wrote, “Hegseth’s appearance on ‘CBS Evening News’ followed the Trump administration’s move to sharply restrict access for credentialed Pentagon reporters, sidelining journalists responsible for independently scrutinizing U.S. military power. Yet CBS not only sat down with Hegseth, it allowed him to define a U.S. military operation in Venezuela as a ‘law enforcement’ action, argue Congress need not be notified, and openly discuss American oil interests, all without confronting the administration’s crackdown on the press itself.”