Norah O’Donnell signs off, Hoda Kotb’s out: ‘God-like days’ are over for big name anchors

The ever-changing TV news business is reportedly offering anchors, from Kotb to O’Donnell, their walking papers or new contracts with significant pay cuts, and many big-name journalists are declining them or shifting to smaller roles.

CNN’s Alyson Camerota and Poppy Harlow left CNN last year, and so did Chris Wallace. Univision anchor Jorge Ramos left the U.S. Spanish language network shortly after the 2024 election. Stephanopoulos, though, is apparently sticking with ABC — at least for now — after the network’s $15 million settlement involving his comments about President Donald Trump.

On Thursday, struggling CNN shifted much of its programming lineup, bumping hosts such as Jake Tapper and Wolf Blitzer to earlier timeslots as the company cuts about 200 TV positions, or 6% of its workforce, according to the network’s own reporting. The company also removed Jim Acosta from their lineup, leaving him without a show.

But over the past year, a slew of notable anchors jumped ship. At least a half dozen marquee hosts at U.S. news organizations — from Fox News to CNN — have left their powerful perches at the anchor desk.

As news consumers flee traditional platforms for peppy TikTok videos and political podcasts, media experts are opening up to USA TODAY about TV anchors changing the channel on the format.

‘God-like days are definitely over for news anchors’

The “big three” networks — CBS, NBC and ABC — have toyed in recent years with replacing big-name news anchors, like Kotb and O’Donnell, with little-or-lesser-known broadcasters. Kotb was replaced by Craig Melvin, well-known among “Today” viewers but far from a household name.

When ex-“Today” anchor Katie Couric left the CBS nightly anchor chair in 2011, she was replaced by Scott Pelley. Before O’Donnell took the reins of “Evening News,” the network tapped Jeff Glor, who was recently laid off.

Their hope, experts say, is that news organizations can cut high salaries, hiring younger anchors whom they hope will appeal to a younger audience.

Anthony Adornato, chair of the broadcast and digital journalism at Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Public Communications, says “news consumption habits” are having a direct impact on the health of the TV news industry.

“There is less of an emphasis on those big-name anchors who are making a ton of money,” Adornato says, noting that younger audiences are engaging with non-traditional content.

CNN and MSNBC’s ratings have plummeted in recent years, and especially since the Nov. 5 election. The TV news business is simply managing costs in a new, challenged environment, media experts like Mark Feldstein say. Feldstein, a former ABC News and CNN investigative correspondent, is the University of Maryland broadcast journalism department chair.

“These networks are about making money and they’re going to do what makes money,” Feldstein says, adding that budget cuts are “kind of like the breakdown of the studio system in Hollywood. Networks aren’t as big as they used to be. Their audiences are dwindling, their profits are dwindling.”

Adornato added that “the big salaries of the big anchors” are “being more closely monitored” by networks if stars are unable to “bring in the numbers on traditional broadcast.”

Norah O’Donnell’s replacements are relative unknowns

As O’Donnell departs the “Evening News” desk Thursday, Adornato, a former news reporter and anchor, points out that the CBS mainstay will be replaced by “two people who are relatively known but not super well known.” In July, CBS announced O’Donnell’s replacements, starting Monday, are “60 Minutes” alum John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois, a longtime local anchor at WCBS in New York.

Cable news networks like CNN have made surprising promotions such as elevating correspondent Kaitlan Collins, who covered Trump’s first term and recently returned to the role. Collins, 32, now pulls double duty on CNN as the network’s chief White House correspondent and host of “The Source” in Chris Cuomo’s former 9 p.m. timeslot.

“We’re seeing a whole lot of younger people, which is not necessarily a bad thing, than we did many years ago,” Adornato says.

Feldstein agrees, arguing that networks’ “promotion of younger talent is an effort to attract younger viewers in TV news,” and “the big problem (for networks) is the aging demographic of their audience.”

Ex-news anchors like Hoda Kotb can build brands without the help of TV

Experts say broadcasters like Kotb, who spent 26 years at NBC, doesn’t need a mammoth network now that she has already established a lasting brand. Kotb, host of the popular podcast “Making Space,” plans to work with NBC on special projects and pursue her passions in the health and wellness space. O’Donnell will also continue to contribute to CBS News.

“They’ve built a brand already and now they don’t need to necessarily be on television,” Adornato says, adding that anchors are still able to “reach an audience through social media and build a brand of their own,” even with smaller paychecks. As networks purge well-known talent, Feldstein believes personalities such as Kotb still resonate with viewers but says name recognition is “slowly diminishing over time.”

“It used to be that the (big three) television networks had a monopoly or oligarchy on the brand,” Feldstein says, but”NBC is still bigger than Hoda. People don’t have strong emotions about NBC or any of the other networks. They do have strong emotions about Hoda and some of the other talent.”

As Kotb makes space for something new and O’Donnell signs off, the days of Walter Cronkite and Edward R. Murrow are done, according to Adornato.

“The God-like days are definitely over for news anchors.”