Shots fired: CBS staff turn on one another as ratings tank

President Donald Trump and MAGA’s revamp of CBS News does not appear to be going so well. Staff are reportedly turning on one another as viewership wanes from the rebooted network, and staff are fighting hard for a chunk of the network’s reduced audience.

“Insiders told RadarOnline.comarOnline.com the ambitious journos see each other as competition and are each playing to win. While Dokoupil was recently on vacation, correspondent Matt Gutman stepped into the CBS Evening News anchor chair and delivered 4.1 million viewers, the broadcast's best weekly performance in 17 weeks and its first time topping 4 million since March.”

"Tony is panicked," a source told Radar. "He knows television is a ratings business, and when your replacement suddenly delivers the biggest audience in months, people start asking questions."

Now, insiders said the men's relationship has “gone from frosty to downright hostile.”

The station’s viewership has lagged since the arrival of Bari Weiss, who was hired by CBS to be editor-in-chief of CBS News in October 2025, when Paramount Skydance acquired CBS. Weiss had no television-news experience, but she is the founder of the conservative Free Press, and she made sure to put her conservative stamp on the formerly unaffiliated news.

Former veterans called CBS News is a disgraced shell of a news organization after the firing of famed “60 Minutes” senior correspondent Scott Pelley, after gutting most of the rest of its staff.

Weiss’ renovation did not catch on with its audience, so after the ratings ticked up under Gutman, Dokoupil allegedly freaked.

A source told the Daily Mail in early August that they found it "odd" Dokoupil would leave his post for so long at such a pivotal time. The source added: "Everyone is entitled to a vacation, but when you are trying to build an audience and fighting to right a failing ship, taking a two-weeker is a head-scratcher.

"Makes you wonder if Dokoupil has given up," the source told Radar.