During the live East Coast telecast, Dokoupil appeared to run into trouble with his teleprompter while transitioning between stories. Clips that quickly spread across social media show the anchor pausing mid-sentence, correcting himself, and openly acknowledging the glitch.
“To other news now, to Gov. Walz. No, we’re going to do Mark Kelly,” he said, before adding with a self-aware smile, “First day! First day, big problems here.”
Dokoupil then asked the control room which segment was next, mentioning fellow journalist Jonah Kaplan, followed by a few seconds of silence. He soon recovered and continued with a story involving Sen. Mark Kelly.
When viewers later watched the episode online or on the live West Coast feed, that moment was gone.
In the revised version — which aired around 14 minutes into the broadcast — Dokoupil transitions smoothly from a report on the fallout surrounding Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro to U.S. defense news without interruption.
“All right, now to another one of today’s top stories,” he says calmly, introducing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s move to potentially demote Sen. Mark Kelly from his retired Navy rank.
According to broadcast norms, such edits are routine. Live East Coast feeds often serve as a test run, allowing producers to correct technical issues before a later West Coast airing or a finalized digital upload.
The incident comes just days after Dokoupil delivered a New Year’s Day message to viewers, asking them to hold him — and the storied CBS broadcast — to the highest journalistic standards. The program has previously been anchored by legends such as Walter Cronkite and Katie Couric.
In that address, Dokoupil, formerly a co-host on CBS Mornings, emphasized his commitment to transparency and accountability, even when mistakes happen.
“I tell you what I know, when I know it, and how I know it,” he said. “And when I get it wrong, I’ll tell you that, too.”
He also made a pointed promise about independence, stressing that viewers — not advertisers, politicians, or corporate owners — would come first.
The rocky moment may have been fleeting, but it offered an early, unscripted test of that pledge. By openly acknowledging the error on air and moving forward, Dokoupil’s debut underscored a familiar truth of live television: even seasoned journalists can stumble — and how they recover often matters most.
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