The Scoop
CBS News anchor Tony Dokoupil will broadcast from Taipei this week after failing to obtain a visa to China in time, a stumble in the network’s efforts to play a leading role in this week’s dominant global story.
American broadcasters are planning extensive coverage from the Chinese capital this week. Semafor first reported Sunday that NBC News’s Tom Llamas would be anchoring from Beijing, as will ABC News’s David Muir. CBS appears to have planned similar coverage, and was forced to change course at the last minute: On the CBS morning planning call Wednesday, they discussed plans for Dokoupil to broadcast from the Taiwanese capital, according to a person on the call.
Two people who had been briefed on the issue said Dokoupil had not been able to get a Chinese visa, though it’s unclear whether the block came from a late application or another issue. CBS News declined to comment and the Chinese Embassy in Washington didn’t respond immediately to inquiries as to why Dokoupil is not in Beijing.
A person at the network dismissed concerns over Dokoupil’s absence in Beijing, noting that CBS News had two correspondents who would be traveling with US President Donald Trump in China. The person added that Dokoupil’s presence in Taipei highlighted the importance of Taiwan, which is set to be a major topic at the summit.
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The setback comes as CBS Evening News, already in third place, has continued to see its ratings slide. The network’s strategy has been shaped by the political and business interests of the Ellison family — which depends on Trump’s blessing to complete a merger with WarnerMedia, and executives cast it not as a rightward move but as seeking a wider center. “We don’t think that we want to move 10 degrees to the right and find the center. We think that there’s a wider aperture of audience out there than other people think,” managing editor Charles Forelle said last week.
The network’s critics have focused on the fact that editor-in-chief Bari Weiss and her team lack experience in running a television network, which can be, among other things, heavily reliant on complex logistics.