Who Is Norah O'Donnell? New Details On The Second Woman To Ever Anchor The CBS Evening News
Norah O'Donnell used to be on 'CBS This Morning.'
Instagram She got her start on CBS This Morning and will soon start with the CBS Evening News. Who is Norah O'Donnell?
The CBS news desks have gotten a shakeup recently thanks to the announcement that Norah O’Donnell will be leaving her position at CBS This Morning to helm up the evening news on the network. O’Donnell is now the second woman in the network’s history to host CBS Evening News. The first was Katie Couric more than a decade ago. Hopefully, O’Donnell’s run will fare better than Couric’s. Here’s what else we know about Norah O’Donnell.
1. The new president of CBS first announced the changes
According to CBS.com, Susan Zirinsky was named the new president of CBS in January 2019 and took over the role in March 2019. She was named president of the network after the former president, Les Moonves, resigned in disgrace after he was accused of sexual misconduct. Zirinsky announced that O’Donnell would move to the CBS Evening News, while John Dickerson would move to 60 Minutes. Anthony Mason and Tony Dokoupil would replace O’Donnell and Dickerson in the CBS This Morning chairs.
RELATED: Why The Songs You Wake Up To Can Entirely Make (Or Break) Your Day
2. Susan Zirinsky said she wanted to “shake things up” at the network
According to Seattle PI, Susan Zirinsky said that she wanted to “shake things up” at the network and introduce a whole new era. She wanted to get away from everything associated with Les Moonves and give CBS a whole new makeover. "This is a start of a new era for CBS News," Zirinsky said. "Breaking through the cacophony of voices and choices for news is quite extraordinary. And to take a venerable legacy network like CBS and help it break through the clutter was my goal. And how do you do that? You shake it up. I have the baseline, the phenomenal reporters of CBS News both domestically and abroad, but to take something that is very stuck in the past and take it to a new place is the goal.”
3. Jeff Glor wasn’t exactly happy about the news
The current anchor of the CBS Evening News, Jeff Glor, wasn’t exactly thrilled to hear that Norah O’Donnell would be taking over his role. According to Fox News, he refused to congratulate O’Donnell for her new role and promised to “be bigger and better” than she ever was, which is, of course, the totally mature thing to do. "You may have heard about the changes taking place here at CBS News about moves that impact colleagues, the unmatched evening news team, and me," Glor told his viewers, according to the outlet. "The outpouring of support from you has been everything and I thank you for that. I'd like to think we're all guided by something bigger than one moment and one broadcast. I have always wanted to do work that matters and still do. That is something that will never change. I have family, friends, and in the future, far more to share with all of you. It will be great, I promise, just as you are."
RELATED: 10 Of The Most INSANE Celebrity Rivalries EVER
4. Gayle King and Norah O’Donnell were rumored to have a beef, too
According to Page Six, Gayle King and Norah O’Donnell allegedly had a lot of beef, too, which was part of the reason why she was shifted to the evening news chair. According to the outlet, the two women don’t get along because Gayle gets paid far more than Norah. “While her colleague Gayle King just negotiated an $11 million-a-year salary to stay at CBS This Morning, we’re told that O’Donnell is getting between $7 million and $8 million for the “Evening News” job,” the outlet reported. “O’Donnell was previously making about $5 million on CBS This Morning, while we’re told Glor was pulling in less than $3 million.”
5. But Gayle King denied the claims
According to People Magazine, Gayle King made it clear that she has nothing but respect for her colleague and friend. “I have no beef with you. You have no beef with me. Tina Brown summed it up very nicely. She said, ‘This never happens to men, this kind of cut-throat business. That the reality is it’s two great jobs for two great women,’ she said. And I also think I know that that’s true,” King told the outlet. Congratulations are in order for Norah O’Donnell, then!
Bernadette Giacomazzo is an editor, writer, and photographer whose work has appeared in People, Teen Vogue, Us Weekly, The Source, XXL, HipHopDX, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Post, and more. She is also the author of The Uprising series. Find her online at www.bernadettegiacomazzo.com and www.longlivetheuprising.com.