CBS News is stumbling under editor-in-chief Bari Weiss as both the “CBS Evening News” and “CBS Mornings” have fallen to troubling ratings lows, pointing to a deepening audience slump at the network.
For the week ending April 20, “CBS Mornings,” co-hosted by Gayle King — who recently reupped with the network — drew just 1.8 million viewers, far behind NBC’s “Today” at about 3 million.
Meanwhile, ABC’s “Good Morning America” stood at roughly 2.9 million, while delivering only around 310,000 viewers in the key 25–54 demographic compared to 639,000 for “Today” and 508,000 for “GMA.”
For that same week ending April 20, the “CBS Evening News” averaged just about 3.8 million viewers, far behind ABC’s “World News Tonight” at roughly 8.5 million and NBC’s “Nightly News” at around 6.1 million.
“ABC World News Tonight with David Muir” ranked as the most-watched program on all of television last week and was the only evening newscast to post gains both year over year and week to week, while also notching its largest audience lead over NBC in 31 years and over CBS in 34 years.
CBS also lagged in the key 25–54 demo with roughly 467,000 viewers compared to more than 1 million for ABC and over 800,000 for NBC.
Fox News, meanwhile, is capitalizing on CBS’s struggles, touting April gains and highlighting that its flagship “Special Report with Bret Baier” has beaten the “CBS Evening News” head-to-head in multiple major markets, including New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Atlanta and Washington, DC.
Fox News also pointed to strength in the mornings, saying its “FOX & Friends” averaged about 1.4 million viewers in April and beat “CBS Mornings” in 23 major markets — including New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Boston and Washington, DC — as it continues to close the gap with broadcast competitors.
Fox News is property of Fox Corp — sister company to The Post’s corporate parent News Corp.
Sources close to CBS News push back on the bleak narrative, pointing to modest signs of improvement under Dokoupil, including a roughly 2% year-over-year increase in April and steady gains since he took over in January.
Sources also noted that the broadcast is averaging about 4.2 million viewers and 535,000 in the key demo this season — up from the prior anchor team of Maurice DuBois and John Dickerson.
Under DuBois and Dickerson, the “CBS Evening News” had already been on a downward trajectory, averaging about 3.8 million viewers in the second quarter of 2025 and 3.7 million in the third quarter before ticking up to around 4 million in the fourth quarter — with Dokoupil drawing roughly 4.3 million viewers after taking over in the first quarter of 2026.
The ratings slide is unfolding alongside internal upheaval at the network, with CBS News recently ousting its London bureau chief after clashes with Weiss over coverage of Iran and Gaza — a shakeup that insiders described as another sign of turmoil inside the news division.
The Post was first to report that Claire Day, the veteran London bureau chief, was on her way out the door after butting heads with the avowedly pro-Israel Weiss over coverage of the Middle East.
The shakeup was confirmed by parent company Paramount Skydance, which said former Wall Street Journal Middle East bureau leader Shayndi Raice will take over as foreign editor.
The Post has sought comment from NBC News, ABC News and CBS News.
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