MSM Panics After Nick Shirley Bombshell As CBS Pledges To Start Reporting Real News

CBS News anchor Tony Dokoupil addressed viewers in what appeared to be a pre-recorded promotional segment aimed at repairing more than a decade of reputational damage and announcing changes to the program. He acknowledged that the corporate media outlet had “missed the story” too often and, in doing so, had lost the trust of Americans.

“On too many stories, the press has missed the story, because we’ve taken into account the perspectives of advocates rather than the average American. Or we’ve put too much weight on the analysis of academics or elites, and not enough on you,” Dokoupil said in the two-minute video published early on New Year’s Day.

Dokoupil continued, “So here’s my promise to you: You come first. Not advertisers. Not politicians. Not corporate interests. And yes, that does include the corporate owners of CBS. I report for you, which means I tell you what I know. When I know it, and how I know it. And when I get it wrong… I’ll tell you that too.”

Dokoupil basically admitted that CBS and much of the MSM-industrial complex functioned as little more than PR firms for the highest bidder. We saw this with the Hunter Biden laptop story, Covid origins, Joe Biden’s mental health, and the list goes on. Quite frankly, the American people dumped MSM many years ago in favor of alternative outlets.

“On too many stories, the press has missed the story. Because we’ve taken into account the perspective of advocates and not the average American. Or we put too much weight in the analysis of academics or elites, and not enough on you.”

That changes now. The new CBS Evening News… pic.twitter.com/NKdvRJjYCS

— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) January 1, 2026

Nothing new here.

Dokoupil’s promise to viewers comes as CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss plans to overhaul the broadcaster as part of a broader review of standards and procedures, according to a recent Axios report.

Weiss’ overhaul of CBS is bold and noble, and so is Dokoupil’s promise to actually report the news, but we’ll believe it when we see it. CBS has gotten many of the top stories of the past decade wrong, often by design to protect politicians, special interests, or to allow advertisers to influence the news cycle.

We remain skeptical that MSM can be overhauled to report real news rather than function as a public relations firm. That skepticism was reinforced earlier this week, when MSM outlets rushed to Minneapolis to discredit citizen journalist Nick Shirley’s bombshell reporting on suspected Somali-linked fraud, coverage that appeared less like an investigation and more like protection of the Democratic Party and special interests that stand to benefit from the alleged schemes.

X users called out CBS’ reporting earlier this week…

JUST IN: CBS attempts to discredit Nick Shirley by showing there were actually *FOUR* children at ABC Learning Center the day he visited…

But what CBS ACTUALLY did was PROVE HIM RIGHT.

Babysitting 4 kids while the federal government pays you for 40 KIDS is FRAUD.

This… pic.twitter.com/EHocIPOdxC

— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) December 31, 2025

Ratioed.

MSM was radio silent…

The biggest news story in the world…

These “news” outlets still have not covered Nick Shirley and his Somalia fraud bombshell on the biggest Media platform on the planet..

WaPo
NBC News
MSNBC
CBS News
NYT
CNN
PBS
NPR
ABC News

The Legacy Media is the enemy of the people. pic.twitter.com/0Vv5l5jDAG

— C3 (@C_3C_3) December 30, 2025

To rebuild trust, Weiss should host a segment about everything CBS has gotten wrong over the past decade.