Tony Dokoupil’s ‘CBS Evening News’ No. 2 Producer Removed Amid Challenging First Week

The behind-the-scenes changes on “CBS Evening News” continue: Variety has confirmed that the newscast’s No. 2 producer, Javier Guzman, was let go following Wednesday night broadcast. It’s the latest wrinkle to come during new anchor Tony Dokoupil’s bumpy first week behind the anchor desk.

Kim Harvey remains as the newscast’s executive producer. “The CBS Evening News With Tony Dokoupil” has made headlines almost every day since Dokoupil took over the anchor chair this week, a major change orchestrated by new CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss.

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The week started with CBS News forced to scrap plans to send Dokoupil on a week-long broadcast tour across the country after the U.S. invaded Venezuela — leading Dokoupil to start his tenure early last Saturday, with a three-segment interview with U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.

On Monday, Dokoupil’s first official broadcast was marred by technical difficulties, as recounted by Variety‘s Dan D’Addario: “He babbled confusedly, then fell silent, when a segment about Sen. Mark Kelly jumped ahead of a segment about Gov. Tim Walz in the lineup — the kind of shift an anchor is supposed to be able to handle without painfully long seconds of dead air. ‘First day, big problems here,’ Dokoupil said with evident frustration.”

Then on Tuesday, the show was also criticized for an unusual sign-off by Dokoupil — which featured a quite unconventional tribute to Secretary of State Marco Rubio. “Whatever you think of his politics, you’ve got to admit it’s an impressive résumé,” Dokoupil said before showing AI memes casting Rubio in other jobs such as the prime minister of Greenland, the head of Hilton Hotels and the Michelin man. The move was seen as tone deaf given the current global unrest and uncertainty over the U.S.’ actions in Venezuela.

Insiders say Guzman’s departure is unrelated to any of this, but comes as the new telecast restructures. Guzman had just taken on the role of senior broadcast producer at the CBS Evening News in August. He had previously served as a senior producer on the newscast since January 2018.

Guzman joined the CBS Evening News soon after Jeff Glor took over as anchor at the end of 2017. Among Guzman’s first assignments was serving as senior producer on a revival of the “Eye on America” CBS News series, featuring long-form reporting and in-depth storytelling. Dokoupil was a contributor to that “Eye on America” revival.

Glor was replaced by Norah O’Donnell in 2019; in January 2025, John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois took over as co-anchors. They anchored their final newscast in December, to be replaced by Dokoupil at the start of 2026. . “CBS Evening News” has run in third place, well behind ABC’s “World News Tonight” and NBC’s “NBC Nightly News,” for years.

Guzman joined CBS News in 2017 as a supervising producer for “CBSN: On Assignment.” Prior to that, he spent a year as a senior producer on “Vice News Tonight,” the broadcast that Vice Media produced for HBO. Guzman’s other credits include stints at Fusion Media Group and as a line/show producer on WNYC radio’s “The Takeaway.”