Tony Dokoupil admits ‘big problems here’ in ‘CBS Evening News’ debut

Tony Dokoupil is running into issues already with his “CBS Evening News” debut.

The news anchor encountered problems getting into some of the big stories of the night, including Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz announcing he would not seek reelection and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s censure of Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly.

“To other news, as you just heard from Jill – to other news now, to Gov. Walz,” he said as Kelly’s photo appeared on screen. “No, we’re gonna do Mark Kelly. First day, first day, big problems here,” he said, smiling.

“Are we going to Kelly here? Or are we going to go into Jonah Kaplan?” he then asked, referring to the Minnesota-based CBS journalist who presumably reported the Walz story.

Dokoupil also later referred to Minnesota as the Great Lake State, which is the official nickname for Michigan.

Both slip-ups were removed from the broadcast uploaded to YouTube.

USA TODAY has reached out to CBS News for comment.

Maurice DuBois joins John Dickerson in leaving ‘CBS Evening News’

Watch Tony Dokoupil’s ‘CBS Evening News’ debut

Maury Povich weighs in on CBS changes, why Connie Chung shut him down

The Emmy Award-winning TV journalist and CBS News staple was named the latest anchor of “CBS Evening News” last month. He made a preview appearance of sorts on “CBS Weekend News” on Saturday, Jan. 3, which included coverage of the Trump administration’s capture of Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro and a one-on-one interview with Hegseth. That broadcast appeared to go off without a hitch.

Dokoupil’s appointment came after the 2024 departure of anchor Norah O’Donnell, who’d held the position since 2019, as well as the departures of John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois, the latter after 15 years at the network. Dokoupil had been cohosting “CBS Mornings” alongside Gayle King and Nate Burleson since 2019.

“We live in a time in which many people have lost trust in the media. Tony Dokoupil is the person to win it back,” CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss said in a statement at the time of Dokoupil’s appointment.

Contributing: Edward Segarra, USA TODAY

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Tony Dokoupil ‘CBS Evening News’ debut gets off to rough start