CBS Evening News Faces Criticism for Broadcast Blunders

CBS Evening News aired footage of Kanye West during a segment on Sean “Diddy” Combs the day before a disastrous July Fourth broadcast that staffers slammed as “amateur hour,” according to a report.

The news program experienced a series of major flubs over Fourth of July weekend, starting Friday, when it mistakenly aired shots of West in its report about a potential pardon for Combs from President Donald Trump.

The footage used was of West’s appearance last year at Combs’ trial in New York. Combs is serving 50 months in prison for transporting individuals across state lines for prostitution.

The error suggests the short-staffed nature of CBS Evening News, a source told the New York Post. “They are drinking from a fire hose,” a network source said. “This sort of thing should not happen. Where is the quality control?”

CBS News declined to comment on the incident to the Post. However, a network source told the paper it was a “one-off error” that had “nothing to do with short staffing.”

CBS did not return The Independent’s request for comment on the broadcast mixup involving West and Combs.

It wasn’t the only failure over the holiday weekend. Insiders were left fuming over CBS Evening News’ Fourth of July broadcast - a three-hour, primetime special dubbed “The Great American Block Party 250.”

The broadcast was quickly dampened by a severe storm, prompting Trump to evacuate the area. Instead of taking action, anchors Tony Dokoupil and Nischelle Turner waited off-air for an hour for instructions on what to do from boss Bari Weiss, according to the report.

Their apparent fumble of the broadcast had one network source calling the show “amateur hour,” adding: “Tony and Nischelle waited one hour in the rain for Bari or Tom to tell them to go to the studio.”

CBS Evening News was relaunched in January with Dokoupil, 45, taking the anchor seat. It came weeks after Weiss, who founded the “anti-woke” The Free Press outlet and has no prior broadcast experience, assumed CBS News’ top editorial role, prompting a string of firings and resignations at the network.

As Dokoupil and Turner waited for instructions, backup anchor Kelly O’Grady ran the Independence Day broadcast from the D.C. studio, while weatherman Rob Marciano gave updates from New York.

The pair later returned to the studio around 9:45 p.m., or about an hour and 45 minutes into the 3-hour program. Trump later took the stage at 11:15 p.m. for his planned speech.

Some CBS staffers were left “mortified” by the broadcast, which 100 staffers had put hours of work into, a source told the Post.

A CBS spokesperson insisted the coverage went according to plan, telling The Independent in a statement: “This is nonsense. Despite the weather evacuation, our exceptional team never misses a step. We seamlessly activated our pre-planned weather contingencies to deliver great coverage for our audience.”

One source told the Post that the “disastrous” production was made even worse when CBS News executive editor Tom Cibrowski sent a congratulatory email to the 100 staffers involved.

“It would have been better if they said nothing,” the source added. “We knew it was s***.”

The source blamed the issues on a shortage of producers and a lack of strong leadership from Dokoupil, his executive producer Kim Harvey, as well as Cibrowski and Weiss.

“It’s a rudderless ship,” the source said.

The special is no longer available on CBS’s streaming service, Paramount+, or on the network’s website, the Post reported. One source told the paper the network was likely “embarrassed” by it.

However, a network source hit back at the claim, telling the Post it was not shared due to licensing agreements.