Norah O’Donnell will leave the anchor chair at the late CBS Evening News after the 2024 presidential election amid expected cost-cutting by parent company Paramount, the network said Tuesday.
O’Donnell, who took over in 2019, renewed her contract with CBS News through 2022 — despite speculation that she would be replaced.
Her salary, however, was rumored to have dropped significantly from $8 million a year when she was hired, as The Post exclusively reported.
The show’s ratings have also been in the tank during its five years in the anchor slot — dropping roughly 25% and shoving the newscast behind rivals ABC and NBC.
“She deserves to lose her job,” a CBS insider told The Post after hearing of her departure.
O’Donnell, 50, will move into a new role as senior correspondent, where she will focus on larger interviews and reporting for other shows including “60 Minutes,” according to CBS.
“She has been put out to pasture in TV journalism,” the source said.
“It’s like being sent to the special projects graveyard.”
O’Donnell’s departure comes a month after controversial CBS News president Ingrid Ciprian-Matthews resigned — as CBS NEWS CEO Wendy McMahon cuts costs and reshapes the network.
Paramount Global is expected to put down $500 million ahead of its potential merger with Skydance Media.
CBS News plans to have rotating anchors after O’Donnell leaves in November, according to Puck News, which first reported her departure.
O’Donnell has had a tumultuous ride as the last reporter in the storied Tiffany Network anchor stable that included Edward R. Murrow, Walter Cronkite and Dan Rather.
It scored some big interviews over the years, but the Evening News averaged just 4.4 million total viewers last quarter and fewer than 600,000 in the 25-54 demographic.
“CBS is so irrelevant if you’re a journalist. Nobody’s watching. Sometimes you feel like you’re in the witness protection program,” the network insider said.
ABC’s “World News Tonight,” the top-rated show, and NBC’s “Nightly News” have also seen their audiences shrink sharply in recent years, often by double-digit percentages from quarter to quarter.
O’Donnell thanked staff after announcing her departure.
“Together, our team has won Emmy, Murrow and DuPont awards. We were able to anchor in the studio through COVID; we took the broadcast en route from aircraft carriers to the Middle East and around the world. We were privileged to have a historic interview with Pope Francis,” she said in a note.
McMahon praised O’Donnell for her news-gathering skills.
“Norah’s superpower is her ability to secure and then expertly deliver unparalleled interviews and stories that set the news cycle and capture the cultural essence,” said McMahon.
“Norah’s work here is legendary, and she has some great interviews in the works that will be just as memorable and important.”
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