A major shift is coming to one of the country’s oldest newsrooms.
John Dickerson, longtime CBS political analyst and current co-anchor of CBS Evening News, announced he’ll be stepping down in December — marking a big shake-up just weeks after Bari Weiss took over as editor-in-chief at CBS News.
Dickerson, who has been with CBS since 2009, said in an Instagram post that his last day will come at the end of the year. He reflected on his years with the network, saying, “I am extremely grateful for all that CBS gave me— the work, the audience’s attention and the honor of being a part of the network’s history.”
This announcement didn’t just surprise viewers. It caught the media world off guard, too. While Dickerson had only recently taken over the anchor desk alongside Maurice DuBois after Norah O’Donnell stepped down, the show’s ratings didn’t improve. In fact, they continued to slip, trailing behind ABC’s World News Tonight and NBC’s Nightly News.
Anyone who listens to the Slate Political Gabfest knows that John Dickerson has a severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome which has gotten worse and worse over the last few years. Dickerson is completely biased and should never have been a top anchor at CBS. Also, he loves to… pic.twitter.com/TrCykorLuK
— NoisyNosyNancy (@noisynosynancy) October 27, 2025
Now, all eyes are on what Weiss plans to do next.
Bari Weiss, a former New York Times writer who rose to prominence after challenging the paper’s internal politics and then launching her own independent media platform, officially joined CBS News earlier this month. She’s known for her sharp commentary and a reputation for pushing against mainstream narratives. Some insiders are already calling her leadership a “reset” for CBS — one that may include more shakeups behind the scenes and on camera.
So far, Weiss hasn’t publicly commented on Dickerson’s departure. But it hasn’t gone unnoticed that his exit comes shortly after another high-level staff member, head of standards Claudia Milne, also said she was leaving the network.
Inside CBS, conversations have reportedly started about who might replace Dickerson. There’s talk that Tony Dokoupil — co-host of CBS Mornings — is on the short list. Others are floating a return for Norah O’Donnell, who stepped away from the anchor chair earlier this year.
And then there’s the big wild card.
Fox News anchor Bret Baier has allegedly been mentioned as a potential outside hire, though Baier is still under contract with Fox through 2028. Still, the fact that his name is even being discussed speaks volumes about the direction CBS might be looking to go under Weiss’s leadership.
It’s hard to ignore the timing of it all.
Dickerson’s departure, falling so soon after Weiss’s arrival, feels less like a coincidence and more like the start of something bigger. After years of declining trust in major media institutions — from COVID flip-flops to political bias allegations — news outlets are under pressure to evolve. Fast.
CBS isn’t immune. And with ratings falling and viewer trust fading, Weiss might have been brought in not just to manage the newsroom, but to radically transform it.
No one knows exactly what that will look like yet.
But if John Dickerson’s quiet exit is the first domino to fall, don’t be surprised if more familiar faces at CBS step down — or are quietly moved aside — before the year’s end.
For now, Dickerson will stay on until the holidays. After that, the network — and possibly the media landscape itself — may look very different.
