Megyn Kelly says network news is dead after Tony | TV Shows

Megyn Kelly delivered a scathing evaluation of Tony Dokoupil’s current rankings collapse on CBS Evening News, proclaiming that “network news is dead” and predicting continued poor viewership.

CBS Evening News fell below 4 million viewers for the first time since Dokoupil changed Maurice DuBois and John Dickerson on January 5. During the week of March 9, this system averaged 3.83 million viewers, roughly matching the figures DuBois and Dickerson have been attracting close to the conclusion of their tenure.

Oliver Darcy’s Status publication also signifies that CBS Evening News is on observe for its weakest first-quarter rankings this century, based on preliminary Nielsen data. The broadcast is at present drawing roughly 4.3 million complete viewers and 541,000 viewers in the 25-54 demographic. Following CBS’ rankings decline, on the March 23 episode of SiriusXM’s The Megyn Kelly Show, the previous Fox News host declared, “Network news is dead. That’s my takeaway.” This comes after Kelly raged at Fox News for merging the U.S. and Israeli flags in a “disgusting” graphic.

During a dialogue with Tangle News’ Kmele Foster concerning Dokoupil’s rankings efficiency and the broader condition of network news, Kelly continued, “You can put Tony in there. You can put Maurice and what’s-his-name in there.

“It’s not the anchor. It’s not the management. It’s the animal. It’s dead… and there is no saving it, no matter how many rescue groups you ship with paddles.”

Foster concurred, noting that audiences are “watching most issues online,” including “YouTubers” and “unbiased media voices.”

“They’re largely consuming clips,” he continued. “Younger audiences are – sadly or not – consuming a lot of their news and getting a lot of their news from TikTook and Instagram.”

Foster emphasized that networks like CBS, ABC, and NBC can no longer depend on their established reputations for strong viewership. With new news platforms emerging at a rapid pace, he argued it’s impossible to compete solely on brand recognition.

“Competing with those new manufacturers and rising manufacturers is not the kind of factor you are going to give you the chance to do if most of what you are doing is relying on the fact that, ‘Hey, we’re CBS News. We’re supposed to be important. We’re supposed to be related.'”

Kelly went even further, declaring that for CBS News and similar networks, the predicament is “not turnaroundable.”

She explained, “It is like a sinking plane provider that you are attempting to put water wings on and puff, puff, puff them up. It’s not going to work. It’s an plane provider. It’s going to the underside of the ocean.”

Kelly has grown increasingly critical of the evening news, particularly of Dokoupil. On January 28, the seasoned journalist, aged 55, targeted the 45-year-old anchor, whom she nicknamed “Toprah,” a blend of Tony and Oprah, for interviewing his mother during a segment on grandparents that aired on CBS Evening News the previous night.

Dokoupil reported on a study revealing that grandparents who look after their grandchildren perform better on memory and language tests and decline more slowly than those who do not. To delve deeper into this topic, Dokoupil interviewed his mother, Gail.

“Something magical occurs when a guardian turns into a grandparent,” he remarked following his mother’s interview. “And to suppose, the next time I call my mother for help with the children, I can use the road she used on me as a child: ‘It’s for your own good, Mom.’ I like you.”

Kelly mocked Dokoupil for conducting the segment, “in true Toprah fashion,” on CBS, a network she asserted is supposed to be “the most full of gravitas broadcast in any network’s daytime lineup.”

The former Fox News host then launched a scathing tirade against Dokoupil’s coverage, stating, “OK, I’m, I’m humiliated by him. I am unable to. This is what, this is actually s–t that Oprah would do.

“Like this is fine if you want, if you’re on cable news in the middle of the day, you’re on broadcast news in the morning, you wanna do the soft, you know, I can relate.

“This is f–king night news on CBS where you need to give you the chance to be taken significantly on issues like Syria and Ukraine, and nukes and Russia, and no one offers a s–t about your mommy.”

Kelly further argued that CBS is “determined to attempt to ‘humanize him’ without realizing that what the night news anchor wants is credibility and gravitas, neither of which Toprah Dokoupil has at all.”

She then directed pointed criticism at Barry Weiss, who assumed the editor-in-chief position in October 2025 following her appointment by Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison during a corporate overhaul. Kelly suggested the new executive doesn’t “need to work on feminizing this man. Trust me, he is obtained that.”

Kelly stated, “They need to work in a different lane, but they’re too silly over at CBS because they’ve someone working the group who would not know s–t about broadcasting. I’m sorry. She’s never labored in tv. So, they’re making use of the mistaken treatment to the issue.”

Earlier in January, Kelly had also attacked Fox News, claiming it resembled Russian propaganda when she just lately watched the network’s coverage of Venezuelan chief Nicolás Maduro’s arrest.