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REVIEW: The New CBS Evening News- Is It Too Late to Bring Norah Back?
The new and revamped CBS Evening News emerged after much hype and a treacly send-off for its prior anchor, Norah O’Donnell. After watching its maiden broadcast one is left wondering: is it too late for Norah to come back?
Maurice DuBois and John Dickerson now anchor the newscast from a beautiful, warmly lit new set in New York. The focus has shifted in terms of the stories shown, so the newscast didn’t open with the usual political story out of Washington. In fact, there were NO stories out of Washington. In addition to no Norah, there was no Nancy Cordes, Weijia Jiang, Scott MacFarlane, Nikole Killion, Robert Costa or Caitlin Huey-Burns. In the words of George W. Bush, this is some weird ****.
The newscast opened with a report on the freakout over DeepSeek AI (with an appearance by Margaret Brennan), followed by a report on Chinese spies targeting current and former service members. After that, a brief roundup covering mudslides in Southern California, ICE arresting hundreds, the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, and 11 seconds (!) of Donald Trump: namely, his meeting with the House GOP conference in South Florida.
Although the newscast tried to pivot in a new direction, some things don’t change. CBS Evening News still engages in what could be charitably described as pro-Hamas propaganda:
ELIZABETH PALMER: Israel's assault on Gaza killed thousands of Hamas fighters, but it also created a whole generation of new ones.
RAMI: I have nothing left. Today I am prepared to join Hamas, and not just be one of them but be one of the best.
PALMER: He asked that we call him Rami. He’s 22, and told us an Israeli air strike killed both of his parents and two siblings, and that he has never held a gun in his life.
RAMI: I worked at the restaurant. My ambition was to be a talented chef, to earn a good salary. But then the war came and it wiped out everything.
PALMER: Hamas terrorists started the war on October 7, 2023 when they attacked Israel and murdered more than 1,000 people. But 15 months of relentless Israeli bombing hasn’t wiped them out. Their handover last Saturday of four Israeli hostages was a spectacle to project power and draw new recruits.
RAMI: Joining Hamas is revenge for what I went through, for no reasons and for no crime I committed.
The report might as well be a Hamas recruitment video, the way it describes Hamas and gushes over their resiliency in the face of “relentless Israeli bombing.” Granted, the report does call Hamas “terrorists.” Otherise, the report was all Hamas.
That report was followed by weather, a longform item on insurance in California, some euthanasia propaganda.
Euthanasia propaganda, on the new CBS Evening News pic.twitter.com/y5Syzi7F4v
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) January 28, 2025
The newscast closed out with a salute to firefighters. The format is a definite departure from newscasts as we know it. Way too weird for this reviewer’s tastes. We’ll wait to see how this space develops going forward. But this will definitely take getting some used to.
Me, watching this new CBS Evening News pic.twitter.com/VaifOOy20M
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) January 28, 2025
Click “expand” to view the full transcript of the aforementioned report as aired on the CBS Evening News on Monday, January 27th, 2025:
CBS EVENING NEWS
1/27/25
6:42 PM
JOHN DICKERSON: The cease-fire with Israel requires Hamas to release 33 hostages in the first phase of swaps. But today, Israel said it's learned eight are dead.
MAURICE DUBOIS: And look at this. A sea of humanity as tens of thousands of Palestinians returned to their homes, or what was left of them, in northern Gaza. That, too, is part of the cease-fire deal.
DICKERSON: Israel's goal is to destroy Hamas, but 15 months of attacks on Hamas targets may be having the opposite effect. Elizabeth Palmer is in East Jerusalem.
ELIZABETH PALMER: Israel's assault on Gaza killed thousands of Hamas fighters, but it also created a whole generation of new ones.
RAMI: I have nothing left. Today I am prepared to join Hamas, and not just be one of them but be one of the best.
PALMER: He asked that we call him Rami. He’s 22, and told us an Israeli air strike killed both of his parents and two siblings, and that he has never held a gun in his life.
RAMI: I worked at the restaurant. My ambition was to be a talented chef, to earn a good salary. But then the war came and it wiped out everything.
PALMER: Hamas terrorists started the war on October 7, 2023 when they attacked Israel and murdered more than 1,000 people. But 15 months of relentless Israeli bombing hasn’t wiped them out. Their handover last Saturday of four Israeli hostages was a spectacle to project power and draw new recruits.
RAMI: Joining Hamas is revenge for what I went through, for no reasons and for no crime I committed.
PALMER: Israel Ziv is a retired general with the Israeli Defense Forces.
ISRAEL ZIV: They can recruit thousands of people and it's not even a question, and definitely there is enough hatred there for young people to join the Hamas.
PALMER: Did the IDF know going in that they were going to create a new generation of Hamas fighters who were motivated by real rage?
ZIV: It's inevitable. Immediately, you create the next generation with the hatred.
PALMER: Hatred rooted in despair. The prospects and Gaza couldn’t be bleaker. Virtually no jobs, no homes, and no future. So it’s key that Israel offers Gazans an alternative?
ZIV: Absolutely. If Israel will not push for an alternative, I think that it’s only a matter of time until the Hamas, which is already there in the area and never left, will rebuild itself and, you know, the next October 7th is only question of time.
DUBOIS: Liz Palmer joins us from East Jerusalem, and Liz, does that young man see any other path forward than violence?
PALMER: He did speak longingly of a future for himself without violence, but he said you need stability and time to plan one. And he’s just going to have his hands full finding food and shelter and water to keep his little brother and sister alive. So for young men like him, Hamas is the default. It’s organized and offers structure and salaries.
DICKERSON: And Liz, that general said there needed to be some alternative to violence. So what would that look like?
PALMER: Well, first it would need the cease-fire to hold. Secondly, it needs billions and billions of dollars of reconstruction money from international donors, and thirdly, it needs a peace plan leading to a Palestinian state, and one that doesn’t include Hamas. At this stage, all of those are longshots.
DUBOIS: Liz Palmer in East Jerusalem tonight. Thank you so much.
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