Why Is CBS Evening News Anchor In Taiwan, When The Story Is In Beijing?
Rogue Energy
iHeartPodcasts
3.0 • 4.4K Ratings
🗓️ 14 May 2026
⏱️ 19 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On the evening newscasts Wednesday evening, both ABC and NBC evening news anchors were reporting live from Beijing, where the world is watching the two most powerful leaders from the two biggest economies meet to discuss the biggest issues facing the world. So why was CBS evening news anchor Tony Dokoupil in Taiwan? If you listened to his broadcast, he claimed it was for editorial reasons; Taiwan being a major topic of conversation between President Trump and President Xi. According to several media outlets though, turns out, that isn’t the full story. In fact, CBS news reportedly did not secure a visa in time for Dokoupil to enter China, and was forced to scramble for a Plan B. Tough headlines, given Dokoupil’s pledge to viewers when he took the position to tell the truth and for viewers to ‘Hold him to it.”
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is an IHeart podcast. |
| 0:02.5 | Guaranteed Human. |
| 0:05.9 | Hey, that folks. |
| 0:07.1 | It is Thursday, May 14th. |
| 0:10.1 | But Wednesday, May 13th, was a really interesting, strange, weird broadcast for CBS Evening News and Tony DeCopal. |
| 0:23.1 | And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and T.J. |
| 0:26.4 | And we should say there's nothing we say here that's meant to be critical or make a mockery of CBS or Tony DeCopal, |
| 0:34.7 | both of whom we respect and have friends in the building. |
| 0:38.9 | Absolutely. |
| 0:39.8 | But this was interesting to hear. |
| 0:42.3 | What is clearly the biggest story in the world right now, Robs? |
| 0:45.6 | Obviously, President Trump in Beijing with President Xi, he's there with dozens, or at least a dozen plus of the biggest CEOs here in America |
| 0:58.2 | to not only discuss our economic interests, but the war with Iran and certainly, yes, for China, |
| 1:06.4 | the issue of Taiwan. |
| 1:08.1 | Okay, Robs, it sounds like Beijing, China is the center of the news world right now, |
| 1:15.1 | to the point that NBC sent its anchor to Beijing. ABC sent its evening anchor to Beijing. |
| 1:26.0 | So Tom, Yomis, and David Muir in Beijing. |
| 1:30.2 | So where is Tony DeCopal? |
| 1:35.3 | Taiwan? |
| 1:36.8 | You say that, you put the high pitch. I wasn't expecting that. |
| 1:40.1 | Taipei? That was fun. Okay. Yes, folks, Tony DeCopal is not in Beijing where everybody else is, and you certainly would wonder why. |
| 1:49.9 | And if you watch the top of the broadcast, you would think this was by design. |
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