With CBS Evening News already dealing with an “embarrassing” rollout under new anchor Tony Dokoupil, the Tiffany Network’s flagship nightly news program was hit with more chaos Wednesday night with the firing of its second-ranking producer, according to two sources familiar with the matter.
Javier Guzman, who had been CBS Evening News’ senior broadcast producer since August, was dismissed following Wednesday night’s broadcast. The Guardian’s Jeremy Barr was the first to report on Guzman’s termination.
The Independent has reached out to Guzman for comment. A CBS News representative did not respond to a request for comment.
While it is not immediately clear why Guzman – who had been with the program for eight years – was abruptly let go on Wednesday evening, network sources told The Independent that the termination came after a meeting with CBS Evening News executive producer Kim Harvey, network president Tom Cibrowski and managing editor Charles Forelle, who was recently brought in to be one of editor-in-chief Bari Weiss’ deputies.
According to one CBS source, after Wednesday’s broadcast from Dallas – which is part of Dokoupil’s cross-country “Live From America” tour to kick off his run as CBS Evening News anchor – Guzman was pulled into the meeting at the New York office. Harvey, meanwhile, patched in from Dallas as she was on location with Dokoupil.
During the meeting, according to the source, Guzman was accused of undermining Harvey amid the relaunch of the nightly news program. In the end, Cibrowski allegedly told Guzman there were irreconcilable differences, then dismissed the longtime network producer.
Network staffers also told The Independent that Weiss did not attend Thursday morning’s network editorial meeting, which only added to confusion across the newsroom. The Independent has learned that Weiss missed the 9 a.m. editorial call because she had to attend another meeting unrelated to the matter.
Meanwhile, in the CBS Evening News editorial meeting on Thursday, sources told The Independent that a number of staffers were emotional during the “very charged” discussion as they pressed management for a reason why Guzman — who is well-liked and respected by much of the staff — was dismissed. They were not provided with a rationale.
The departure of Guzman, which one network insider called “huge news,” comes less than a week after Dokoupil officially took over the anchor’s chair of the nightly news show that was once helmed by Walter Cronkite and Dan Rather. Dokoupil, a CBS Mornings co-host since 2019, was tapped last month to lead the latest reboot of the perennially third-place show after Weiss failed in her effort to poach a high-profile name from rival networks.
The launch of the Dokoupil-led version of the show, however, has been met with heavy criticism from media observers and CBS journalists alike, largely over the program’s both-sides, deferential approach to covering the Trump administration and its technical hiccups. The new anchor has also taken heat over his boast that he’d be
Variety, for instance, pilloried Dokoupil for his “unchallenging” interview with Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth, asserting that it was an “inauspicious sign of where CBS News is headed” as the Trump administration’s perspective was “aired so thoroughly as to raise the question of when an interview becomes a press release.”
Dokoupil has also come under fire for how he covered the fifth anniversary of the January 6 Capitol riots, with staffers “aghast” at the “both-sides mess” he presented in his brief mention of the story. The anchor also faced mockery and ridicule over his light-hearted “bon bon” on Secretary of State Marco Rubio, whom he “saluted” as the “ultimate Florida man” while sharing AI-generated images of Rubio in various roles – including the Shah of Iran and a Minnesota governor.
“What the hell was that Rubio segment??? So weird,” a CBS News reporter said, while another network insider added: “Journalism malpractice is what that Rubio love letter was.”
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At the same time, staffers told The Independent that “morale is really bad” at CBS Evening News and has grown worse amid the reboot, with much of the blame being laid at Harvey’s feet.
Much of that anger, according to sources, has been over the belief that she is nothing more than a “yes person” for Weiss – the “anti-woke” founder of the center-right site The Free Press, who was hired by Paramount chief David Ellison in October and has been accused of pushing a “MAGA-friendly” agenda at the news network.
“This really feels like the end of CBS Evening News,” one network staffer said. ”Honestly, it’s so depressing.”
The bumpy rollout for the new CBS Evening News comes amid the increasing backlash that Weiss – who had minimal broadcast experience before taking CBS News job – has received since joining the newsroom this past fall.
The internal uproar Weiss has faced over her editorial decisions reached a fever pitch last month when she spiked a 60 Minutes segment about Venezuelan migrants being deported by the Trump administration to the infamous El Salvadoran prison CECOT.
The segment, which had already been promoted by the network, was pulled at the last minute because Weiss claimed it was “not ready” as it did not sufficiently present the administration’s side of the story.
While she would double down on that defense in editorial meetings and staff-wide emails, the 60 Minutes reporter on the story argued that Weiss had made a “political” decision rather than an editorial one. Meanwhile, the scandal over the spiked segment has led insiders to suggest that Weiss could soon face a “revolt” at the storied newsmagazine.
While the network has said that the “Inside CECOT” story – which briefly aired in Canada – will be aired at a later time following additional edits, it was not part of the show’s lineup when it returned from holiday break this past Sunday.
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