HOT TOPICS | Mainstream Media FAIL: CBS Sells Out AGAIN!

[clears throat] [music] Good morning, Lemonheads. Did you have your stretch this morning? Did you have your Wheaties or your cereal? Um, weird thing. I just reminded myself I had cereal. I haven't had cereal in years. I stopped eating it because they said it was a sugar bomb, but I was like, "What the hell? I want to try it." It was in the supermarket for the holidays. I know I'm crazy. I'll get to the news in a second. And um I went by the cereal aisle and I was like, "Wow, I haven't had cereal in forever."

And I was looking like the sugar is not as bad as I thought. I mean, it's not great. And so I bought a bowl of Frosted Flakes, a bowl, a box of Frosted Flakes, and some milk. And I have been eating cereal. Yeah. Let's see if I'm going to try it. Not every day, but every couple of days I might have some. I had some like right Around Christmas and then when [snorts] I got back from New Year's, I had a bowl. Do you guys still eat cereal? I hadn't like cereal had like just fallen

from my diet. Hadn't done it. So, good morning everybody. Let me know where you're from. I see there are folks Someone's from Philly in here. Oh, can you turn the light on in there please in that room? Thank you. There's someone from uh Philly in here. Uh cornflakes and tell me what cereal you like and Tell me if it's still a thing. Someone said I would eat a whole box. I've started a whole thing. Let me know your favorite cereal. Maybe I should get some like Don Lemon cereal with like little logos and see if

I can make it tasty and healthy. And I [snorts] don't know with lemon. I don't know. Maybe there's like a lemon tea flavor. I don't know. I don't know. Colorado. Edinburgh. Wow. Amazing. North Carolina. Moyok. North North Carolina. Someone says Rice Krispies. Anyways, hello North Dakota. Hello, North Dakota. Hello. Serial is trash. Someone says, "Hello, Northern California. Glad that you're here." First order of business, you guys know what that is. It is. Thank you. I think this is my um is it not UT or Tennessee University? I did a um speaking engagement for them. I

may have done their commencement and they gave me this really cool thing and It's very collegiate. So then I put on my collegiate looking hat. So good morning everybody. Savannah, I see people saying good morning, Nikki. Um, so yeah, so thank you so much for that. I appreciate you joining us this morning. You know what the first order of business is, and that is to hit the thumbs up and the like and u because that affects the algorithm. More people become aware of our conversation. Okay? And it's an important one. And I, you Know, I

was asking my team today, I was like, you should we do two days in a row a media story, but it seems like that's where it is going. So, I just want to as we get started here, I just want to talk to you for a second. Okay? I just want to talk to you for a second. I don't want to talk as a broadcaster, but you know, I've been in these rooms before and [clears throat] not as a headline, not as a broadcaster, just as as someone who has been doing this a Long long

time and knows something doesn't smell right about this. Just because I've been doing it so long when I say, "Oh, people be knowing." So, if you've ever watched the news and then halfway through you lean back and you say, "Wait a minute. What what the hell? What am I watching right now?" Like, "What is this right now?" That's what this CBS roll out felt like. And not confusing, a little chaotic, but not so much that, But more unsettling is I think is the right terminology, at least for me, because it wasn't just awkward. It's not

just awkward, it's revealing. This moment is revealing for the state of the news. And I think CBS right now is uh exemplary of what is happening with the entire news media or um broadcast journalism or corporate journalism in general. And so and before anyone takes this the wrong way, okay, [clears throat] it's not that I'm going To pull any punches or anything. I want to be very clear. This is not about piling on one anchor because I think that's lazy because you have to figure the biggest the bigger context here. Although the anchor is a

big part of it, okay? And that but just by focusing on that I think misses the point. And I'm not interested in mocking delivery or tone or style or any of that. This is about a choice. It's about it's about it's about a Personal choice and a professional choice for the anchor. Don't get me wrong, but this is about a choice, a journalism choice. And we've seen this story before. Most recently, as you may know, with a cable network that decided the way forward was to make the news more palatable to people in management offices

and sea suite, softer, safer, let's move it in a certain direction, Too liberal. Because the people in the seauite were sitting there and they're like, "Oh yes, this is what I like to hear. This makes me feel more comfortable." mostly white guys who wanted to have their beliefs reinforced what they believe. They wanted that reflecting back to them, less confrontational, easier to digest in the boardrooms. We want to be safe. That experiment didn't end well. It's still not going well now because that's not what the news is about and that's not what journalism is supposed

to be. So let's talk about what's happening and that is sort of exemplary of everything that is happening. People don't learn their lessons. They really don't. And so I'm here to maybe help them learn their lesson. So let's talk about January 6 because this is where everything becomes clear. This is what part of what I'm Talking about this CBS broadcast, you know, January 6, yesterday, the anniversary. January 6 was not a misunderstanding. Even though it may have been presented that way, that's how it felt on the CBS evening news. It wasn't a protest that got

out of hand. It wasn't people feeling differently, right? It wasn't It wasn't that people feel differently. That's not what it was. This was an attack on the United States capital, on the certification of An election, on democracy itself. And when a broadcast treats that like just another political disagreement, that's [ __ ] up. That's not balance. That's not what it is. That is like what are you afraid of? What are you afraid of? It it it seems like you're operating out of a place of fear or disingenu just disingenuity or Disingenuousness out of fear of

backlash from who? Perhaps the administration, I don't know, fear of angry emails from people who work in the administration or call from the White House or feel or someone who's going to call you from the company head of the owner, the corporate overlord and say, "What? What is this? We don't want people knowing the truth about January 6th, even though the evidence is right in front of our eyes." It's fear of uncomfortable meetings upstairs is what this reeks of. So, here is what people inside corporate media still don't seem to understand at this point. That

viewers are not confused about January 6. They are not. Executives are. And they are confused. Well, they aren't really confused because they know what the hell January 6 was. But what they don't want is Donald Trump being mad at Them because they want their business uninterfed with, uninterrupted in Washington DC. And Donald Trump controls all of that. pretty much most of it, not all of it, but pretty much. So viewers are not confused about that and the executives are confused and uh they are they have the journalists and the people running the companies and they

sort of thing like what do we do? What do we do? And then that but those Most of people are just relenting. Not all but just most not all but most because they're still trying to split the difference between truth and comfort hoping that no one notices. Should I say that louder for the people in the back? Because they are still trying to split the difference between truth and comfort and then hoping that no one's going to notice. People notice. People notice. People are not stupid. The viewers are not stupid. They notice. They know. And

when you try to, you know, uh make fun or make a joke about Marco Rubio. It's like there's then there's the Marco Rubio moment, right? So, let's just be honest about what that felt like. And we're going to show you these moments in a moment. That didn't feel like journalism. It didn't feel like accountability. It felt like admiration. That's how it came off. I'm just being Honest here, okay? The tone, the posture, the energy, it felt like admiration. More frat house than fourth estate. And the truth may hurt, but that is the truth. I'm just

being honest. And who you challenge and who you flatter, that tells the audience everything that they need to know. Marco Rubio didn't need a fan. Marco Rubio needed questions. Marco Rubio needed to be held accountable. He needed a accountability To the American people and for the American people. He needed real questions, real ones about power, about democracy, about January 6th. Instead, he got something closer to like a hangout, right, with with that assessment of what is being portrayed on CBS. And again, this isn't about one anchor's personality. That's not what this is about. This is

about the lane that CBS has put that anchor in. This is about the lane that CBS has Put that anchor in. Okay. The posture they allowed, the tone that they endorsed, did I stutter? People keep asking, and we ask this question, is he ready? And you know, I think that's a wrong question. I I do and I asked that question, is he ready? I asked that question to Kobe Hall from media yesterday. Is he ready? And Kobe was like, he said very nuanced answer. He had a very I think blunt answer and then Went back

and said, you know, maybe I shouldn't be so harsh and then became more nuanced or hedged a little bit, softened it a little bit. But the real question is ready for what? Ready for what? If the job is to smooth edges, to lower the temperature, and to make sure nobody in the seauite gets nervous, then maybe this is exactly what they wanted. But if the job is to Anchor the evening news in 2026 when democracy is fragile and truth is underresolved, readiness isn't about polish. It's about having a [ __ ] backbone. And backbone cannot

be staged. You cannot manufacture it with a dramatic pause, a tearary moment, or a segment designed to feel authentic. People aren't asking for emotion. They're asking for honesty. They're asking for truth. They're asking for the news media to stand and be what it is Supposed to be without fear of favor. And this roll out showed us a pattern here. The boat siding, uh, the softened language, the admiration for power, the caution masquerading as balance. This isn't accidental. This is intentional. CBS chose safety over clarity, access over account accountability, comfort over truth. And here is the

lesson they seem determined not to learn. Presenting presenting the news in a way that is palatable to corporate leadership is not Journalism. It's marketing. And it fails every single time. It failed before. It is failing again. Trust doesn't erode because audiences are cynical. It erodess because people can feel when they're being managed instead of informed. When you're hedging instead of being real. And so here's what I personally keep coming back to. I wonder if what it really takes to fix this Isn't another rebrand or another roll out or another anchor swap. I wonder if it

takes journalists. Now, I think this is what it's going to take. I'm wondering here it if it's going to take journalists having the courage to look at management and say one simple word. No, no, no. We are not both sidesing this. No, We are not softening that. No, we are not flattering power. No, we are not pretending this is normal. No, we're not going to sell our souls to corporate interests. It's been said that no is the most powerful word in the English language. And being a good communicator and a good journalist is knowing how

to convey words, how to use the English language. And it's time for the journalist to say no. And learning to say no might be the Most important thing a journalist can do for themselves and for the public they serve. Because if the lesson is that we didn't learn from other people's mistakes or our own, then by all means, keep doing exactly what you're doing. But if CBS and corporate media more broadly want to regain even a sliver of trust from the American people, then honesty has to come before comfort, even if it makes people upstairs

uncomfortable, Especially then. So yes, CBS is the face of it this week. Media fail again. That's what they're the face of this week. And unless journalists remember who they work for and what they're supposed to protect, this won't be the last time that we have this conversation. That's where we are this morning and we're going to talk about it. Oliver Darcy is here. But first, a word from our sponsors. Support comes from Lean. You know, we've all seen the fat diets, the juice cleanses, the cabbage soup, cutting carbs, then swearing off sugar. You lose a

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us down isn't obvious. It's the stuff that we keep carrying because we Think we're supposed to. Old habits, old expectations, old guilt. Therapy helped me get clearer about what I needed to let go of and what I actually want to hold on to. Not to be perfect, just to be honest with myself. That's where Better Help comes in. They make it easy to get matched online with a licensed therapist who fits your needs. You fill out a quick questionnaire and they handle the heavy lifting and if the match isn't right, you can switch at any

Time. BetterHelp has over 30,000 therapists and has helped more than 5 million people. Their live sessions average a 4.9 out of five rating for over 1.7 million reviews. So, people are really finding support there. If you want a clear head and a little more peace, sign up and get 10% off at betterhelp.comdon. That's betterhp.com/donlemon. All right, thank you uh to our sponsors and so let's get with it. Now, I want to Bring in now Oliver Darcy. He is a veteran media journalist and the author of the status newsletter and of the podcast, a co-host of

the podcast power lines that you can find on YouTube and anywhere you get your podcast. I would encourage you if you want to know what's going on in the media, you need to read Status. It is the best out there. And I'm not just saying that to blow smoke. Oliver happens to be a friend, but Oliver, you do you do the best job. And Everywhere I go, people talk about the job that you guys are doing over at Status and with the with your podcast. So, thank you for joining us this morning. How you doing?

Happy New Year to you, by the way. >> Well, thank you, Don. I'm doing good. How are you? >> I'm doing very well. So, I don't know. What did you think of First of all, let me put this is Oliver's reporting uh in status about what we're talking about This morning. He's he calls it the DOPO debacle and we'll discuss that. But he also talks about the broader implications of what's happening with journalism and with news. What did you Am I off on my opening monologue at all? No, I mean I think I think you

are actually um listening to you uh reminded me of a lot of conversations I had yesterday uh reporting this piece about how people inside CBS News are feeling because uh they're also Very worried I think very alarmed about the direction that their newsroom is headed and seeing this reboot of CBS Evening News and seeing the way Tony Dopal is framing January 6 or um praising Marco Rubio or going on u ride alongs with Christine Gnome or giving softball interviews to Pete Hathth. I mean this is this is this is causing deep concern inside the CBS

newsroom. Don >> h yeah and let's talk about that. Let's Let's see um besides the headline from status we've got the headline from the Daily Beast. Dopal fonds over ultimate Florida man Marco Rubio. We're going to play that for you in a moment. Uh, and then Dopo salutes Marco Rubio and Dopo practices both sides asism on January 6th and on and on and on. Okay, so let's play the moment. I I think I want to start with the moment um where he talked about, let's see, let's do the Marco Rubio moment. Let's start there. >>

Only in America the many lives and many jobs of Marco Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants and a former Florida senator. He's now the face of US foreign policy and President Trump's pointman on Venezuela. All in addition to his roles as Secretary of State, interim national security adviser, and acting national archivist and US aid chief. Whatever you think of his politics, you got to admit it's an impressive resume. And now AI memes have added to that portfolio, Casting Secretary Rubio as the new governor of Minnesota, the new Sha of Iran, the prime minister of Greenland,

the new manager of Manchester United, the head of Hilton Hotels, and highest of high honors of all, the new Michelin man. Now, back in real life, of course, these memes may not add up to much, but for Rubio's hometown fans, which uh are many around here in Miami, it is a sign of how Florida, once an American punchline, has become a leader on the World stage. Marco Rubio, we salute you. You're the ultimate Florida man. >> What was that? >> Have you ever seen anything like that on the evening news, on any on any program?

>> What was that? I have not. I I I have not. And I thought it was it's like a pep rally. >> It was pretty shocking especially given the context that Marco Rubio um you know was just engaged in this uh attack on Venezuela to overthrow the government There that he's engaged in apparently trying to seize Greenland for the United States and to then do this fawning segment with ausive praise for Marco Rubio I thought was just I mean he literally says Don I salute you or we salute you Marco Rubio. Can you imagine if

you know let's say uh David Mir did the same segment for AOC and said we salute you AOC. It would be the it would be a non-stop segment on Fox News all day. It would it Would Donald Trump would say this is evidence of their their bias etc etc. And frankly they'd have a good argument to make. I don't understand what Tony is doing saluting Marco Rubio >> under this is what Oliver writes in status. Marco Rubio, we salute you. David Dopel declared, excuse me, Dopal declared, uh, it's Tony Dop, by the way. Dopal declared,

"You are the ultimate Florida man." Even under normal circumstances, and a sensibly objective Newsman's light-hearted praise of a cabinet member member's political portfolio would have been jarring, but it was particularly striking in context of the last several days. That's why we're talking about this. Rubio is currently helping Trump pursue that uh the fantastical goal of capturing Greenland and only days earlier participate in the shock overthrow of the Venezuelan Venezuela's government. The um that the evening news would cap Its broadcast with a meme-driven homage to a central player in those events was to put it mildly

an extraordinarily an extraordinary editorial decision. Let's talk about that because that's the bigger picture here is that editorial decision and as I said it is um the frame through which they are allowing um the anchor to operate the lane in which they're allowing that anchor to operate. It's Tony D. Copel is the one saying these words on air, Don. But the the Context this is occurring in is of course that David Ellison um has has purchased Paramount and uh and has installed Barry Weiss as editor-inchief and she's the one who's making these editorial decisions over

at uh at CBS News. And so Tony is is merely the face of this uh broader reshaping I think of the network. And I think for a lot of reasons they're going to push this network in far friendlier waters to Donald Trump and his administration. Primarily because I I think David Ellison, you know, he believes in some of this stuff, but he also wants to get his business deals through Washington DC, which Donald Trump currently controls. And so an easy way to do that or or is to grease the wheels, is to uh suck up

to this administration. And I think they're doing that through CBS News because Donald Trump doesn't care about Paramount Plus and what's streaming on Paramount Plus or what Movies Paramount's going to be releasing soon. The one asset in the Paramount portfolio that he very much cares about is CBS News. And they're basically saying, "We'll give you CBS News uh in exchange for you approving some of our other business." >> Yeah. And there's some new there's more news on Ellison and um what they're trying to do with um Warner Brothers Discovery. We'll get to that in just

a moment. I want to go inside because Oliver, you and I have been through this when you know the um palace intrigue um so to speak. And um it it it can be very jarring and alarming for the people on the inside. As you mentioned in conversations, Oliver writes, "Tuesday with more than a half dozen staffers and network insiders, two themes emerged again and again. Deep embarrassment coupled with growing alarm about where one of the television's most storied newscasts is heading. It is so bad in There. One network insider underscored to status and then later

on uh Oliver writes uh it's it's been a lot a disaster and one network insider as one network insider put it or a total shitow as another toll status. One veteran television news executive pointed out they're big on issuing manifestos and value statements but they can't even put together a clean newscast. Ouch. staffers are overwhelmingly depressed at the state of affairs in their newsroom. This manifestos and value statements reminds me of, again, I don't want to just whatever, but widening the aperture and moving the network to the right and all of those weird things about

giving oxygen and air to people who are their goal is to lie, to obuscate, and to mislead. They want to deny January 6, which we'll get to in a moment because it seems like Tony Dopal and CBS both sides January 6th last night. But inside the newsroom, talk more about that Because that's where the real heartbreak is. And I wonder if it's going to be the journalists, even in their pain, that they're going to have to say, you know what, throw caution to the wind and say no. No. >> What's remarkable about this, Don, is

when we were at CNN, I think the shift was a lot more subtle, right? It wasn't so overt. It wasn't so in-your-face in the last week. Hasn't even been a week, I think, since Tony Dopal recorded his Message saying the media misses stories because it focuses too much on academics and elites. I mean, it has been very overt. Whether it was that message, whether it was them releasing these principles, professing their love for America, um whether it was again that softball interview with Pete Hegsth on the night that we learned about the attack on Venezuela

or the ride along with Christine Nome as she's doing these ICE raids and on and on it goes. It has Been very they're not hiding what they're doing. They are actually um making it very obvious to viewers. And I think inside CBS News, as you talk to people, they are they are alarmed. A lot of these people have worked at CBS News for their entire careers. They've been proud to work at CBS News. It's been um you know, the Tiffany network. Uh it's a longest running evening newscast. It has a lot of history behind it.

Kronite sat at that desk. Edward Aruro was there. Um, you know, this is a a network uh that has a lot of history and a lot of people have been very proud to wear the CBS News jersey because of that history, because of the history of standing up to power during McCarthyism. Um, this feels to them like a betrayal of CBS News values, basically sucking up to this administration and they're very worried that this is, you know, I think that they were all holding their breath, Don, over the last couple months that Barry Weiss wouldn't

actually u meddal in the journalism to the extent that she is. But I think as it's becoming more and more clear that this is the direction the the company is speeding toward uh they are distressed and uh and and it's not only too Don that we should point out the politics of it like that executive told me they couldn't even put together a clean newscast on Monday for the debuts. There was that error where Tony didn't know what segment was coming Up next. I've never seen anything like that in the, you know, my entire life

watching the evening news where the CBS News anchor or the any anchor is confused about what segments next and there's this on air kurfuffle. Uh the the lack of experience I think Don from management uh with Barry Weiss uh lack of experience Tony never anchoring a solo show like this on his own. The executive producer is is is basically brand new. She's just got that job. uh Last summer um I think is also leading to um not only bad editorial decisions but just bad television. Yeah, look, I I'm I [clears throat] like I said, I

don't want to pile on to Tony. There were so many different ways it could handle it. And maybe the look, the control when there's chaos in a control room, the anchor has to make it seem, you know what I mean? That's got to be calm. And there are a couple ways to do that is to I said, you read the story That that you have in front of you and you make them follow you is one that what I would have done. or a very simple um you know in other news and you don't know

where you're going in other news right after this break we're back with more CBS evening news and you shut up and they have to go to the break and then get their [ __ ] together in the control room but so I feel for him it's it's a tough place to be in and when all those things are happening maybe you Don't have the wherewithal to go to those things I don't know but it was very easily solvable I believe rather than bringing more light to the situation You know, you could be panicking, but as

long as the anchor doesn't is not flustered, I don't think the audience is flustered. That's just my two cents. I don't know. >> I agree. And I also like, you know, I think that's a forgivable mistake for The first broadcast maybe. >> Right. Agree 100%. I think that it was viewed though in the greater context of the last five or six days where they've been issuing like the executive said these manifestos about how journalism should be done and and holding themselves on this high horse and then to see that they don't even have the fundamental

mechanics of putting together the show the first show downright uh struck people you know like What is going on here and also the fact that the the people in charge don you know I think this is to some extent illustrative of the fact that they don't have a ton of experience putting together um TV journalism. Barry Weiss has never been uh TV journalist. She's never really actually been a proper journalist either, but she's she has no experience in television and now she's running uh one of the big television networks. Um Tony Tony, you know, has

Been a co-anchor on the morning show and I don't want to um dismiss that, but he's also never been an evening news anchor. you know, before Tom Yamis took over the NBC Nightly News, they gave him so many reps, right, on the weekends, >> filling in for Lester. Um, it was very clear they had uh they had, you know, um set the table for him to take over that show. >> To some, it feels I think, you know, I've talked to people, it feels like They really rushed Tony into this position. Maybe that wasn't his

fault entirely, but the executives didn't have much of an option. you know, it became clear that they they wanted to get rid of uh the previous anchors of the show, John Dickerson and Maurice Dewis. And so those two quit and so they really had nowhere to go. So they they put Tony in this position and he doesn't really have the same reps that someone like Tom Yamis did before he took over the NBC Nightly News. >> Yeah. I mean, look, Maurice Dubois, I don't think anyone, there are very few people who have as much experience.

She's one of the people who has sort of old school journalism experience by work going through um um through local markets and then working for the network and then going back to the local market as an anchor and then going back to the network and doing um so let's not I don't want to dismiss I just want to Give some flowers to Moraurice Dubis because I think it's he he he's a great guy and a very talented um journalist >> but let's let's move on and talk about and again I don't want to pile on

to Tony Dopo but um they did put him in this position what I if I was unqualified for a job, would I say no? I would say look, they're going to give me this job. They're going to pay me a lot of money. Then I'll just have to muddle through. I think that's what most people Would do. Okay, let's talk about this, which really this is out of all the things, this really bothered me because we know how bad January 6th actually is. Okay, and this is a moment from the evening news where to me

it felt like they were both sides January 6th. Also tonight, 5 years after the January 6th attack, a group of pardoned defendants marched through Washington. President Trump today accused Democrats of failing to prevent the attack on the Capital, while House Democratic leader Hakee Jeff accused the president of quote whitewashing it. >> And that was it. I mean, Oliver, >> astonishing. Astonishing. That was that what such and one person accused of one side and then another side accused the other side of this is what why it's so I believe important to add context to that and

not to both sides Because this is repres you know representative Mike Collins I want to put this up okay representative Mike Collins posted this said on this day in history in 2021 thousands of peaceful grandmothers and others ga gathered in Washington DC to take a self-guided albeit unauthorized tour of the US Capital building. Earlier that day, President Trump held a rally where supporters walked to the capital to exercise their First Amendment right About the irreg irregularities of the 2020 election. During this time, some individuals entered the capital, took photos, and explored the building before leaving.

Afterwards, hundreds of peaceful protesters were hunted down. I mean, he left out a whole lot of stuff in here. hunted down, arrested, held in solitary confinement, treated unjustly, and crucified in the media. Countless hours and taxpayer dollars were spent pursuing grandmothers and raiding President Trump's home while terrorists and millions of illegal immigrants crossed our nation's border, causing havoc in our communities. Fortunately, this version of the DOJ exists only in history. That is very dangerous. Now, not only is most of this, if not all of it, a lie. And there was nothing peaceful about it. It's

very dangerous. The White House uh let's put up what the White House did or posted. The White House posting this Yesterday saying can we put that up? Um of January 6 basically saying that it was a walk in the park uh and posting it to their official site. It's just saying you know thousands of Americans paid the price for political failures they did not create. talking about January 6th in that fashion. This is what January 6th was really like. Watch this. >> Is here. We're going to give riot Warnings. >> Going to try to get

compliance, but this is now effectively a riot. >> 49 hours declaring it a riot. >> 5 to 50 be advis one advisor trying to breach and get to the capital. >> [cheering] >> Mr. We have a breach of the capital. Breach of the capital. >> All right. Thank you for that. So where that's why this is so dangerous, Oliver. And this is the thing that really pisses me off about that moment yesterday on CBS Evening News. I think even if people weren't trying to rewrite history, it's important for us to remember the horrors of what

happened on January 6, the fact that this this did happen um at the citadel of our democracy. But because the president and those in power are trying to whitewash and lie about the actions that happened uh by, you know, their supporters took On January 6th to attack the US capital and stop the democratic process. It's even more important for shows like the CBS Evening News to remind people what really took place that day. And the fact that the CBS Evening News would only spend a few seconds on this. And the fact that they would then

both sides th this issue is frankly shameful. Don, I can't imagine a scenario if I were an anchor where that script were given to me where I would Not only read it but say this is okay. I would be pretty upset that that would be turned into me. I would, you know, that that I I I don't even I I I can't compute how Tony could go on the air and think that was the way to commemorate this this day. >> Um I can just speak for what I know and that was for standards and

practices for I could see Rick Davis who was a head of standards and practices reading the script for the evening. And he was Going, "Wait a minute, wait a minute, somebody let's call the president of the company or let's call into the control room. Uh, we got to fix this before this comes out of his mouth. This is wrong." You know what I'm saying? And their standards and practices department did not could not figure that part out. That's what's there's so much wrong. And we keep talking about Tony, but really you have someone who's running

the company who whose whose main experience Is running a newsletter for Substack, a very successful one, but that's not the same as running a broadcast news organization, especially a a historic one. Uh, and with so many, you know, different bureaus and employees around the world. You know what's really weird too, Don, is that uh this is the issue that gets both sides on CBS Evening News, but you know, when uh they're interviewing Pete Hegsath, notably there's not a second take to that side Of the story. When they're talking to Christy Gnome, there really isn't a

second, you know, a critical voice on it. Seems like the both sides of them is incurring occurring on CBS Indie News right now. I mean, it's only been a few days, but it seems to be occurring when it's an issue that the president uh doesn't like, right? And then they have his his point of view included in there. But when it's a pro- Donald Trump point of view, it seems like it's okay to have One side. Uh, you know, there's only one side apparently of the Rubio issue. Um, anyway, I I I I just I

don't see how this is acceptable. I don't think the CBS News standards and practices division has much power to be honest these days, Don. You know, you remember that the head of CBS News's standards department actually quit over Barry Weiss uh last year. Uh so, you know, that that department doesn't have much power. Barry Weiss is really in charge Here. And this is a reflection, I think, of where she wants the news division to go. This is a reflection of what David Ellison wants. And this is ultimately a reflection of what Dave Donald Trump wants

because this is all in service of him to u play to his ego so that he approves deals that David Ellison has before before Washington. >> And this is a Christy Gnome thing that someone presented it this way where they said CBS goes on ice Barbie propaganda Tour after 60 minutes storm. Um which is you know they open themselves up to that to the criticism here. I didn't see the interview. I'm not sure if you saw the interview, but um you know, I think those interviews, one should be careful about the number of the the

the mentions or incidences of propaganda you have uh on one broadcast. Perhaps they should spread it out if they're not trying to be so transparent about it. >> I watched it. It felt to me like one of Those cops ride alongs where, you know, you you're in bed with the police officers and they go do a sting operation and they're basically portrayed as the good guys and the people that they're getting are the bad guys. And I think that's just a um oversimplified way to cover the uh what ICE is doing in this country, which

is obviously um quite disturbing in many cases. I think we've all seen videos of masked agents Um just throwing people in vans without due process. Uh there are a lot of questions about the legality of the way they're operating and the fact that CBS News just goes on this ride along with Christy Gnome and they film her talking tough to someone who's in handcuffs with her all her, you know, glammed up uh makeup and her ice hat and her jeans and I don't know if she had her her $50,000 Rolex on at that moment, but

I just didn't think that would it to me struck Me as a very bizarre editorial choice. if you're going to do that story, that's not the way most newsrooms would go about doing that story. And the fact that when they interviewed her too, they asked her a tough question, but then she didn't really answer it and they just kind of moved on. >> Yeah. H um also I did not see this moment, but I'm going to see it now. Tony Dopal apparently crying during the Daily Beast is saying MAGA coded anchor Mocked for crying. And

this is part of it. Here it is. This is your favorite place in the world. Why? Why South Florida and Miami? >> What? It makes me emotional. It's so funny. I I didn't mean I didn't think it would catch it. You know, [snorts] >> cuz you only have one childhood, right? So, >> let me get a second here. >> No, you're okay. I can relate. This is Home. people will to to help people understand why I have such a reaction. Uh Florida is where I grew up. >> We didn't get a lot of sleep, so

>> No, it's okay. >> Yeah. My grandmother's here and my father, my mother, my aunts and uncles, cousins, and it's where I would have spent all of my childhood, but we left uh because of my father. He got in trouble with Business. This is like we laugh about it now, but he was a drug dealer. But he was a drug dealer, went to jail. It's kind of a haha thing that we say now, but the reason it's so emotional for me is because I feel like I was robbed of the full Miami experience. >> So

when I come back, I'm always like, >> think of what could have been. I really love it here. >> But it changed the trajectory of >> Here's the thing. I'm not going to mock the man for being emotional. Um because I would imagine if I, you know, gotten that big job and I went to my hometown that I might get emotional and the amount of stress that he's under. But um did you find that bizarre? He is being mocked for it. I I found it to be, you know, I again I don't want to go

in on him for of all the things like this is whatever to me, but I did find it to be a little strange, Don. A little strange. >> You did? >> A little strange. I mean, I I don't I don't really want to go there, but you know, I I I I think the reason it's getting mocked online, though, is because of all the other things that we've talked about today and the way they're remaking the CBS News. And in that moment, I think, you know, this is just another piece of fodder that's being texted

to everyone in group chains and talked about and like what is going On here? It's also slightly I don't know, a slightly strange way, I think, to roll out your new EV news anchor. Yeah, I was going to say in the beginning, yeah, you know, maybe a two maybe I don't know, I'm being too nitpicky, but at the end of thing like this, this has been, you know, a dream of my lifetime or whatever before before we go tonight. What word? You know what I mean? >> Um, about this blah blah blah. And then If

you get emotional, you can say, "Okay, bye-bye." But you know, I don't I I've been there before. And sometimes when you have emotional, even when you laugh about something, sometimes you cannot control it. And the more you try to control it and you realize like I need to stop laughing because a lot of people are watching me, you laugh more or you want to stop crying and you just think about, oh my god, my mom's watching me at home and that makes you Cry more. So look, >> I'll just say that about that. So um

uh what did you make of the moment where he said, you know, you know, he had the the monologue last week about the press? We'll play a little bit of and then I'll get your response. Let's play a little bit. A lot has changed since the first person sat in this chair. But for me, the biggest difference is people do not trust us like they used to. And it's not Just us. It's all of Legacy Media. And I get it. I get it because I've been hearing about it from just about everybody for more than

20 years as I've traveled America on this assignment or that. My mom's neighbors in West Virginia, my own neighbors in New York City, thousands and thousands of conversations in between. Sometimes people want to talk to me about our coverage of NAFTA or the Iraq war. Other times it's all about Hillary Clinton's Emails or Russia gate or more recently COVID lockdowns, Hunter Biden's laptop or the president's fitness for office. The point is on too many stories the press has missed the story because we've taken into account the perspective of advocates and not the average American or

we put too much weight in the analysis of academics or elites and not enough on you. And I know this because at certain points I have been you. I have felt this way too. I felt like what I was seeing and hearing on the news didn't reflect what I was seeing and hearing in my own life and that the most urgent questions simply weren't being asked. So, here's my promise to you today and every time you see me in this chair. You come first. Not advertisers, not politicians, not corporate interests. And yes, that does include

the corporate owners of CBS. I report for you, which means I tell you what I know, when I know it, and how I know it. And when I get it wrong, I'll tell you that, too. It also means I'm going to talk to everybody and hold everyone in public life to the very same standard. After all, I became a journalist to talk to people. I love talking to people >> of it. What did you think of of that? >> Thought I was very strange. Again, Don, I think he's misguided. I mean, I don't really understand

what he's saying. And he says that the press miss stories because they spent too much time Interviewing or focused on the viewpoints of academics and elites. I think that's a um strange way to say we talked a lot to experts. And typically, I think, Don, when you're a journalist, you're you're trying to get authoritative information to audiences. And how do you do that? If it's a medical issue, do you go talk to Joe on the street or do you talk to a doctor who knows what they're what they're talking about? You can talk to Joe

on The street, but you need to talk to the doctor first in order to give you the correct information, right? The facts. >> Sure. But you would never go to Joe on the street and ask ask him or her, you know, what do you think about vaccines? Should I be getting taking a vaccine or not? Or should I how how did co affect your life? Right. Not >> right. Exactly. On foreign policy, I mean, you wouldn't necessarily you would you would want to know like look like Where we just attacked Venezuela. you would go to

maybe um a retired general or someone who's been in foreign policy and say what what happened here? What are the geopolitics at stake? You wouldn't go to some random person on the street generally. Now, you might go to them and ask him again, what do you think about Donald Trump attacking Venezuela after having that authoritative information, but journalists go to experts because They're trying to relay good information to the public. And so to I think attack that is strange, but it's what Donald Trump has has been whining about for the last 10 years because he

doesn't like when when the news media goes to experts because they often contradict or pour cold water on what he's saying. And so there's been this anti- academic um movement that's happened in the country. And I think you really saw it with COVID where Dr. Fouchy was Villainized for just giving basic medical advice, right? They didn't want to hear from Dr. Fouchy. They wanted to hear from these kooky scientists that were telling them what they wanted to believe, right? The conspiracy theorists who told them what they want to believe when on January 6, they don't

want to hear from the cops. No, they want to hear from, you know, Steve Bannon or Tucker Carlson concocting deep state conspiracy theories. And so the root of What Tony is saying, I think is somewhat, you know, insidious as it comes from a movement that rejects expert opinion because it doesn't conform with their preferred political ideology. And um so while I I I can understand wanting to capture the mood of the country better and find more effective ways to do that. I think every journalist does the attacking of going to experts is very strange to

me. And by the way, John, I Have not noticed, you know, he's only been doing it again for a few nights. I have not noticed him go to random people on the street and ask them for their opinions on things. I it seems to me when CBS Evening News does a piece, they go to the elites, which are actually people in the administration right now. Like when when when Donald Trump attacked Venezuela, it looked like he had an elite do a few segments with him, which was the Secretary of Defense. It Looks like he's um

having uh elites uh be the subject of his uh piece on u immigration raids when he talked to when they talked to Christine M. I haven't seen them I mean I I could be wrong. I haven't seen them go to, you know, the random people in Miami necessarily and get their takes on various issues. They usually um they usually go to the the experts or the people with authority or or some sort of office and and and I think that's a pretty standard thing in Journalism for a good reason. >> Oliver, if you could just

give me five more minutes because I want to talk to you. There's something else that involves the owners of CBS Now, a story that has broken over the last couple of hours that I want to talk to you about, but I just need to get a word in from our sponsors. I come back, I'll talk to you about that, and then um we'll finish up. Uh here's a word from our sponsors. This episode of the Don Show is brought To you by Wild Grain. I love Wild Grain because it makes my life easier without feeling

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sponsors. That's how we stay on the air. By the way, if I don't try it and I don't like it, you're not going to be an advertiser on this program. So, thank you to all of our sponsors. Oliver Darcy is back. Oliver. So, uh, the people who own CBS, they want to own Warner Brothers Discovery, which is the biggest probably film library ever, and they also own CNN, and there's a development in that story. What's going on? >> Well, it's not good for them. Uh, Warner Brothers again rejected their offer to purchase the company. I

think this was widely expected. Um, David Ellison, who heads Paramount, has said that the offer on the table wasn't even the best and Final. So, I think that they're they're obviously they were going to reject this and they're um probably, you know, we're going to have to see what David Ellison does. I assume they're going to increase their offer, sweeten that bid, and see if they can get it. They they really want Warner Brother Discovery, Don. Um, and this is somewhat existential for them. They purchased Paramount with the idea that they would then purchase Warner

Brother Discovery and then Combine those two companies. So they would have the scale to compete against Netflix, to compete against Disney, which are much bigger than they are. And so if they don't actually get these assets, I think they're in somewhat trouble because Paramount alone doesn't have the content library um to compete against these much bigger companies. >> And and Netflix is in the game. They're going to go with the Netflix offer at this point. Netflix. Yes, Netflix has Struck a deal to purchase the Warner Brother Discovery film library and the HBO Max streamer. And

as a part of that deal, then the other assets that Warner Brother Discovery owns, the cable assets in particular, which includes CNN, those would be spun off into a separate company that would um run entirely separately >> like Versant over at NBC and and MSNBC, which is now MS Now. >> Exactly. But, you know, Don, the future Of CNN is at stake here. And I think that's actually it's interesting because CNN as a business doesn't um you know, it's a small player in this in this, you know, this whole thing, right? Like it doesn't it

makes a lot of money for a news organization, but it doesn't it's not what's making a lot of money for these companies. That would be like their film studios or their um you know, streamers or whatever. Um but CNN is playing this outsized role because Everyone wants control of CNN. Donald Trump has an opinion obviously on who's going to get CNN. Um Netflix doesn't want CNN. David Ellison very much does want CNN and I suspect that that's an argument they're making to Donald Trump that he should not approve or you know do everything they can

to block the Netflix deal because they should want Paramount to own it because look how nice we've been to you with CBS News. Just imagine if we own CNN. And so it's Interesting that CNN's future is at stake obviously, but it's playing this huge role in this much larger bidding war for these legacy assets. >> Is this the the management or is it David Zazoff just driving up the price by a bidding war or because they can ultimately just say this is what we're going with and just stop. >> Well, they can and they can't.

I mean, they have a fiduciary responsibility to shareholders to get them the most value Uh for these shares. And so if someone is knocking with a really good offer, they have a responsibility legally to um to look at that offer and see if whether it is really better than the other offer on the table. Now, they're arguing right now that the Netflix offer is actually a better deal for a few reasons. One being um they they think that they're skeptical of of whether David Ellison has the money for this deal. He's gone to the Middle

East, you remember, um to Saudi Arabia and to the Emirates and to um the Qataris to to fund a large part of his bid to take over Warner Brother discovery. So, they're questioning whether he has the financing. Uh they're questioning whether this deal could get done at the end of the day. There's a bunch of factors that they take into consideration. So um but the bottom line is if David Ellison has a offer on the table that's way better than Netflix. They have to take that offer um because They have a responsibility to shareholders to

get them the most value for the company. >> Well, they have to present that offer to the shareholders. The shareholders vote. If the shareholders overall decide to take sure uh a lesser offer, then they can do that if they want. >> But the shareholders are going to go for the best offer. I mean >> for the money they're going to go for the dough. >> That's just the way this this works. >> So to be continued. Oliver Darcy, thank you. Anything you didn't discuss or you wanted to say before I let you go? >> I

think we discussed everything, Don. I will say though that there were so many topics on the CBS evening news. It's only been a few days and I think um that's really representative of how this entire organization is being upended uh by Barry Weiss and David Ellison. We we we haven't even made it through a full Week. >> Yeah, it's what what is it? Wednesday, Tuesday. >> It's Wednesday. >> It's Wednesday. Yeah. >> And look how many segments were questionable. Look how many things I've done that have been questionable. It's only been It's only Wednesday. >>

I've done two segments and you know I did one yesterday and today and we were texting about one of them yesterday. I Wanted to have you on but you were in a meeting. You're too busy for us yesterday. >> I'm sorry, Don. >> That's all right. >> Here I am today. >> I'm messing with you. Oliver Darcy is a veteran media journalist and the author of the status newsletter. There's a newsletter there. You can get all you want. what he uh the last thing that he wrote uh to my knowledge is a DOPO Debacle and

also he is the co-host along uh he's the co-host on powerlines uh that is their podcast and it's a great podcast so I suggest that you tune in to that you subscribe to it subscribe to the podcast and to status okay so thank you Oliver all right see you soon Oliver Garcia so there we go you guys are informed uh and we wanted to inform you on all this this is very important to you this whole news business story because this is where you're getting the Information from. These are the gatekeepers that um you need

to know about. You must be informed about that. Remember, I can I always tell you be informed without being inundated. I'm not going to tell you everything all go through all of the mishos and all of the superolous things that you don't really that don't really you shouldn't be concerned with that you that you should not be concerned with. So that and so look It's tough because um look so Tony look if you see this um how do I say this Tony don't let him do that to you I'll just say short and sweet don't

let him do that to you that's the way that's the way my mama would say it and that's the way If you want if you want advice from anyone, go to a black woman and they'll just give you a few words, right? Like when we were in Chicago and I asked this woman, I've been asking a lot of people about the people being detained on the streets without due process and the one woman that stood out was this black woman. She said, "Leave them people alone or leave those people alone." And it's like, damn, yes,

that's it. And so I would say to Tony, Tony, don't let them do that to you. That's it. So, you want to know anything about Do I have Do we have any other stuff? Are we good that? Yes. No. Maybe. So, producers good. >> You have uh your um accolades in >> Oh, oh, can I tell you the recount? Oh, and can we get the thing from yesterday? I didn't I didn't roll the thing from yesterday. I want you guys to see this. Okay. So, um this is And I didn't ask Oliver about it. I

forgot. So, here's the thing that a couple things that we're really proud about. Okay. Uh, so this is a recount and they went over the recount is a an an important site for on The internet about political news or whatever. And so they were talking about the most important people uh in 2025 and moving into 2026 as it relates to especially politics um and the most important streamers, podcasters, whatever it is that you want to call us, people in digital media. And I was just honored to be one of them along with um this was

on the center and the left along with Brian Tyler Cohen uh and um and Aaron Parnes and I think it was There's Brian Tyler Cohen and um Jennifer Welch and Ben Marcelis over the mighty Midas Touch Network and Tim Miller my friend over at the bull work and so it was just I was like you know this is pretty cool. Adam Mockler uh as well. And I will tell you this, Hassan [ __ ] a lot these people, if you keep scrolling through them, I don't know if that's the end of it. And there's Jen,

these people have been around a lot Longer than us. That's not to say that. Look, they are extremely uh good at what they do. And but to be included in this group for me was like, wow. Because I just started. It's it has not been two years yet. And some of these folks have been around five, 10 years. I believe they've been around for a long time. And so that was sort of what the what the recount was saying. That's on the left and the center or they're saying left. I'm not you know It's the

center. And then on the right you got Candace Owens and then someone I'd never heard about. And then Nick Fuentes and someone else I'd never heard about. And then um Cooper I don't know who that is. I I Anyways, Candace Owens, Nick Fuentes, blah blah blah. And so there you go. All right. So thank you for that. And then do we have the Sher Shepard? Okay. So Sherry Shepard, uh, I didn't get to see the show because I tape it and so I watch it like on the Weekends, but Sherry sent me this with a

smile and a hug. Here it is. >> Give a shout out, too. It is Don Lemon's New Year's Eve special. Don Lemon. So Don Lemon from CNN. If you if you don't know who it Don is from CNN, he was streaming live from New Orleans. One drink at a time. All right, let me tell you. Don was so drunk he wasn't even holding the microphone the right way. Take a look. >> Definitely our late girl. [laughter] >> Oh, that would be nice to the right way, right? >> You know, D. >> Oh my god, I've

had like four shots. I'm going to have a lot more. over there sitting next to Big Fida. Now, let me tell now that move right there, had he still been on CNN, that would have gotten him probably fired from CNN. So, I love it. It's so nice to be able to see Don let loose and shed The serious anchor position. He is living his best life. He's on his own. He's got his podcast. He's picking up followers everywhere he goes. Don, happy new year. >> Thank you, Sherry. The feel is mutual. I love you. You're

doing such a great job. Sherry Shepard, thank you so much. I'm sending you a big hug. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, everyone. We did have a good time. We We had a ton last week, didn't we, y'all? So, thank you For all of your support. Um, look, you guys asked me, some folks have been asking me about the hat. Of course, you know, I wear it a lot. It is on our merch site. All you have to do is go to donlemon.com. Um, this was a gift for speaking engagement at um, let me

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