Norah O’Donnell is returning to CBS Mornings.
O’Donnell, 52, joins Gayle King and Nate Burleson on the morning program. She previously co-hosted CBS Mornings with King and Charlie Rose from 2012 to 2019, but left to anchor CBS Evening News. Her tenure there ended in January 2025.
After her departure from evening news, O’Donnell remained at CBS News as a senior correspondent and 60 Minutes contributor.
She also made a guest appearance on CBS Mornings earlier this year to promote her book, We the Women: The Hidden Heroes Who Shaped America.
A network source shared with The Independent that the move “made sense.”
open image in gallery“We want our audience to wake up with the very best CBS News has to offer, to cover a wide range of news in the morning – and that’s Gayle, Nate and Norah,” the source continued.
“Norah adds her unique experience to an already dynamic team, as we ramp up our political coverage this fall leading into the Midterms. Her reporting across 60 Minutes and new women’s health podcast, Healthful, lends the broadcast more content and visibility building on the mounting synergy across CBS News — now more than ever.”
The source also pointed out that King and O’Donnell have been “colleagues and friends for 15 years and respect each other’s work. Behind the anchor desk, they complement each other in every way, bringing unique perspectives to our coverage.”
O’Donnell has drawn the ire of Donald Trump in recent months, most notably for questioning the president on the alleged manifesto of the suspect accused of opening fire at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
“She’s terrible,” Trump said of O’Donnell in the May attack against women reporters.
open image in galleryThe CBS Mornings lineup shakeup comes as the show has slipped behind NBC’s Today and ABC’s Good Morning America in ratings, according to data from Nielsen.
Viewership among the 25-54 demographic — which is most coveted by advertisers in news programming — is down 20 percent compared to last year to around 278,000 viewers.
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But that is far from the only issue plaguing CBS at the moment.
The network has experienced a period of turmoil following the installation of Bari Weiss as editor-in-chief of CBS News last year, after Paramount merged with Skydance. Since taking over CBS News, the company has seen the departure of several producers and reporters, some of whom have accused Weiss of undermining the network’s journalistic integrity.