Anderson Cooper puts end to CBS vs. CNN job speculation as he inks new deal

Anderson Cooper was one of the high-profile names that Bari Weiss was looking to poach to lead a rebooted version of ‘CBS Evening News.’

CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss will have to look elsewhere as she reboots the network’s flagship nightly news broadcast after CNN mainstay Anderson Cooper struck a new deal to stay at the cable news channel for the foreseeable future.

Variety reported on Monday that Cooper signed a new contract with the network in recent weeks that will ensure he will stay in his primetime cable news perch for the time being.

Besides hosting the longtime weeknight staple Anderson Cooper 360, Cooper anchors a Sunday night newsmagazine-style program and recently launched All These Is, a new podcast on grief and loss. On top of that, Cooper is the face of the network’s New Year’s Eve programming, co-hosting the countdown from Times Square alongside his close pal Andy Cohen.

CNN declined to comment about the contract extension or the terms of Cooper’s deal.

“The decision to re-up Cooper may surprise some people in the industry, because traditional TV-news outlets have over the past year cut ties with veterans, including Hoda Kotb, Neil Cavuto, Chris Wallace and others,” Variety noted. “Media companies have been scrutinizing salaries as audiences move more quickly to streaming video and mobile devices for news, information and entertainment.”

Anderson Cooper isn’t going anywhere as he’s signed a new contract to stay with CNN. (2022 Invision)

Beyond that, with CNN’s ratings sagging amid continued cord cutting, political polarization and cable news’ TV-viewing audience literally dying out, CNN president Mark Thompson has placed increased emphasis towards digital content creation and a subscription-based streaming service.

Because of Cooper’s hefty salary – he reportedly earns $18 million annually – and his recent switch in talent agencies, alongside the push to shed payroll across the television landscape, speculation arose that Cooper could be looking to explore other opportunities and move on from the network he’s called home since 2001.

Those whispers grew louder in recent weeks after Weiss expressed interest in poaching Cooper from CNN to anchor CBS Evening News as the “anti-woke” Free Press founder looks to revive the perennially third-place telecast.

Shortly after Paramount chief David Ellison tapped Weiss to lead the newsroom amid a rightward shift of the news network, the former New York Times opinion columnist began approaching big names from other networks to potentially lead her reboot of the evening program.

Besides Cooper, who also works as a correspondent for 60 Minutes, Weiss has eyed Fox News chief political anchor Bret Baier and Dana Perino, who co-anchors a weekday Fox News news broadcast and is a panelist on the opinion roundtable show The Five.

While Perino has long been a fan of Weiss and heaped praise on her during a recent podcast appearance, both she and Baier are locked into Fox News contracts for the next several years – something Baier noted while shooting down the CBS News rumors.

With it looking increasingly unlikely that Weiss will be able to make a big splashy outside hire, her attention has shifted internally, sources at the network have told The Independent. This has especially been the case in recent days after CBS Evening News co-anchor Maurice DuBois followed his colleague John Dickerson out the door, announcing last week that December 18 will be his last broadcast.

The leading candidate within the network to take over the role is CBS Mornings co-host Tony Dokoupil, who has been a favorite of Weiss’ since before she joined the network. Weiss and The Free Press, for instance, vehemently defended Dokoupil last year after he was reprimanded by CBS News management for a contentious interview about Israel and Palestine with author Ta-Nehisi Coates

Dokoupil was also recently given the opportunity to interview Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which was set up by Weiss, who has described herself as a “Zionist fanatic.” The New York Post reported last week that CBS News has “scrambled” to sign Dokoupil to a CBS Evening News contract after DuBois’ resignation, though the outlet noted the talks could still fall through.

CBS News did not respond to a request for comment.

CBS Mornings host Tony Dokoupil has emerged as the frontrunner to anchor CBS Evening News. (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

The recent hire of ABC News correspondent Matt Gutman, who had also been seen as a potential candidate for the weeknight telecast, has sparked additional internal speculation that Dokoupil will indeed get the evening gig.

“They’ll probably give evenings to Tony and Gutman will take Tony’s spot in the mornings,” one CBS News insider told The Independent. The source added that bringing on a high-profile hire from outside the network shortly after Paramount terminated a thousand employees and is gearing up to “lay off more people at CBS News is disgusting.”

While Dokpupil is the obvious frontrunner within the network, Norah O’Donnell – the show’s former anchor who was replaced in January after more than five years behind the desk – has been actively lobbying Weiss behind the scenes to return to her old role, according to network sources.

At the same time, the belief among insiders and staffers is that O’Donnell – who recently conducted 60 Minutes’ interview with Donald Trump – could end up moving to CBS Mornings after Dokoupil goes to evenings and the network moves on from Gayle King, whose contract is up in May.

Meanwhile, this is all occurring as Ellison is attempting a hostile takeover – with the financial backing of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner – of Warner Bros. Discovery after the media giant rebuffed Paramount and accepted Netflix’s $82.7 billion merger proposal.

If Ellison is successful in getting Warner Bros. shareholders to accept his $108 billion public tender offer, it is possible that Cooper could still end up as a CBS News anchor. Unlike Netflix, Paramount is offering to purchase all of WBD’s assets – which includes its cable properties such as CNN.

In fact, while discussing his hostile takeover attempt on Monday, Ellison told CNBC that he would combine CNN and CBS News if his plan comes to fruition.

“We want to build a scaled news service that is basically fundamentally in the trust business, that is in the truth business, and that speaks to the 70% of Americans that are in the middle,” he said.

Ellison also noted that he’s had “great conversations” with Trump about Paramount’s plan for its proposed CBS-CNN news business, but added that he didn’t want to speak for Trump.