CBS News is trying to sell a theatrical anti-elite makeover, but giving the prime-time chair to Tony Dokoupil won’t trick the public into trusting a network that still lives in a liberal bubble. Dokoupil’s big debut was framed as a return to “the average American,” yet the messenger comes from the same coastal media class the rebrand claims to reject.
The whole charade is made worse by the new ownership and management choices: billionaire buyouts and a handpicked editor-in-chief who traffics in culture-war credibility don’t magically erase decades of newsroom bias. CBS’s so-called new principles—complete with feel-good lines about loving America—read like PR spin meant to paper over the same old instincts of legacy media.
Even the rollout revealed the hypocrisy at the heart of the stunt: a planned cross-country “meet the people” tour reportedly involved private jets and celebrity cameos, the exact opposite of grassroots populism. If you’re telling viewers you’re abandoning elites while flying them around the country in luxury, don’t be surprised when people see through the performance.
Dokoupil’s promo doubled down on the populist posture—complaining about “academics” and promising to speak for his “mom in West Virginia”—while name-checking controversies like Hunter Biden’s laptop and Hillary Clinton’s emails in a selective, wink-wink fashion. That kind of selective outrage reads less like genuine reform and more like a marketing script written to bait both sides without committing to real accountability.
Insiders and conservative commentators aren’t fooled; staff whispers that the appointment insulted the program’s legacy and outside voices have already predicted the rebrand will crater under its own contradictions. The network can’t have it both ways—pretending to be anti-elite while staging elite-friendly publicity stunts—and expect Americans who pay attention to reward it.
Hardworking Americans deserve newsrooms that actually serve them, not theatrical rebrands designed by PR teams and rich owners. If CBS wants to convince the country it has changed, it should start with genuine transparency, everyday accountability, and reporters who live and breathe the issues of regular citizens—not a glossy package of platitudes. Until then, conservative viewers should treat this “rebrand” with the skepticism it rightly earns.
