‘CBS Evening News’ Anchor Tony Dokoupil Quips ‘First Day, Big Problems’ During On-Air Flub

Tony Dokoupil encountered a few technical difficulties during his first day as the new “CBS Evening News” anchor. While hosting the Jan. 5 broadcast, the journalist was transitioning to a story about Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz when an image of Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly popped up on screen instead. “To other news, as you just heard from Jill, to other news now, to Gov. Walz,” he said, before realizing the graphic was of Kelly. He then corrected himself as he recognized the blunder. “No, we’re going to do Mark Kelly. First day, first day, big problems here,” he said, before audibly asking the crew and control staff which story he was about to report on. “Are we going to Kelly here or are we going to go to Jonah Kaplan?” he asked, as the broadcast went silent for a few seconds. Afterwards, the 45-year-old declared that the show was “doing Mark Kelly” before proceeding to narrate about Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s censuring of Sen. Kelly over the retired Navy captain’s participation in a video he and other lawmakers posted urging military members not to follow unlawful orders. Once Dokoupil finished the segment, he then began to report on Gov. Walz’s announcement that the former Democratic Vice-Presidential candidate will end his gubernatorial reelection campaign declaring, “Now, we go to Minnesota.”