Tony Dokoupil abruptly stops 'CBS Evening News' after cameraman falls ill

Edward Segarra, USA TODAYThu, May 14, 2026 at 1:30 PM UTC

0

Tony Dokoupil abruptly stops 'CBS Evening News' after cameraman falls ill

"CBS Evening News" host Tony Dokoupil was forced to cut his broadcast short after a cameraman fell ill during the live newscast.

Dokoupil, 45, was delivering his closing segment from Taiwan on Wednesday, May 13, when a crew member appeared to suffer a medical episode on set, prompting the news anchor to pause the show.

"Is he OK? We're going to take a quick break," Dokoupil said, according to video shared by Puck News senior correspondent Dylan Byers. "We have a medical emergency here."

Moments later, Dokoupil could be heard saying off camera, "We're calling a doctor."

The news program then switched to CBS News Chief Correspondent Matt Gutman, who concluded the show on Dokoupil's behalf.

Tony Dokoupil at 'CBS Evening News': Newscast reveals new anchor after hosting shake-up

"CBS Evening News" addressed the incident in an X post Wednesday night. The cameraman's identity was not disclosed, nor were addition details provided on his health issue.

Advertisement

"Tonight, during the final segment of 'CBS Evening News', our cameraman on set suffered a medical emergency," the statement read. "Thankfully, he's OK and recovering."

The on-set incident comes after a rocky April for "CBS Evening News," which received a revamp earlier this year with the selection of Dokoupil as its new anchor.

According to an April 29 report from Adweek, the Emmy-nominated newscast hit a ratings slump after bringing in 3.771 million total viewers for the week of April 20. The ratings low, which was drawn from a combination of national live and same-day big data plus program ratings from Nielsen, marked the third consecutive week that "CBS Evening News" earned less than 4 million viewers.

In comparison, CBS' network news counterparts, "ABC World News Tonight" and "NBC Nightly News," averaged 8.537 million and 6.168 million viewers, respectively, for the same time period.

'CBS Evening News': News program hits ratings slump amid Tony Dokoupil takeover

A source at CBS pushed back on the characterization of "Evening News" ratings in a statement to USA TODAY at the time, noting that under Dokoupil, the newscast has grown 2% in viewership and was the only show among its competitors to grow month-to-month from March to April of this year.

"This was always going to take time," the CBS source said. "The previous show that Tony inherited was in a very bad spot at the end of last year. Building audience is a grind, and we're encouraged the [year-over-year] numbers are up."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Tony Dokoupil cuts 'CBS Evening News' segment after cameraman illness

Original Article on Source

Source: “AOL Breaking”