Norah O’Donnell to Exit ‘CBS Evening News’ Anchor Position

Longtime CBS Evening News anchor Norah O'Donnell is officially stepping down. She made the announcement in a statement on July 30, revealing that after this year's election, she decided she'll be leaving her role as anchor and managing editor of the CBS Evening News "to take on a new position at the network." She stated, "We just celebrated an amazing five years together. I love what I do, and I am so fortunate to work with the best journalists and people in the business."

After praising her team for the awards they've received, working through COVID and traveling the world to cover historical events and interviews, she shared, "But I have spent 12 years in the anchor chair here at CBS News, connected to a daily broadcast and the rigors of a relentless news cycle. It's time to do something different. This presidential election will be my seventh as a journalist, and for many of us in this business, we tend to look at our careers in terms of these milestone events."

O'Donnell started as a staff writer for Roll Call covering Congress and spent 12 years at NBC on the Today Show, MSNBC, NBC News, MSNBC Live, and Weekend Today, among others. She joined the CBS family in 2011, becoming a co-anchor on CBS This Morning in 2012 and later anchor and managing editor of CBS Evening News in 2019. She revealed that while she will be stepping down on CBS Evening News, she has "made a long-term commitment to CBS News to continue to do the same storytelling and big interviews that have been our hallmark. I will continue to contribute to Evening News and all of our news broadcasts, including 60 Minutes."

CBS News CEO Wendy McMahon wrote a statement of her own following Norah O'Donnell's message. She stressed that O'Donnell will be moving into a new role at CBS that "will enable her to, as she notes, do something different, and thankfully for us, do more of the storytelling and big interviews that are a hallmark of CBS News, as well as Norah's illustrious career. The fact is… Norah's superpower is her ability to secure and then masterfully deliver unparalleled interviews and stories that set the news cycle and capture the cultural zeitgeist."

"In this new role, Norah will have the time and the support to deliver even more of the exceptional stories she is known for across our shows and streams, across CBS Network and Paramount+," McMahon continued. "She will have the real estate and flexibility to leverage big bookings on numerous platforms, including primetime specials, 60 Minutes, CBS News Sunday Morning, and more."

Norah O'Donnell will continue to cover the election, including the upcoming Democratic National Convention in August and Election Night in November. McMahon ended her statement by saying, " I know many of you will have questions about what this means for the CBS Evening News moving forward. Please know we remain committed to its mission, we will share more about our plans soon, and we want to thank all our colleagues who contribute to its coverage every night. As Norah said, her Evening News signoff is not anytime soon, and we look forward to seeing her reporting and interviews now and in the future."