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‘CBS Evening News’ Producer Abruptly Axed Following Anchor Tony Dokoupil’s Rocky First Week
CBS Evening News producer Javier Guzman made news after he was abruptly axed during the rocky, gaffe-filled first week of Tony Dokoupil’s stint as the new anchorman.
Sources say Guzman, the No. 2 producer, was booted suddenly and without explanation following the Jan. 7 broadcast leaving the newsroom in confusion.
Guzman’s exit came amid the network’s heavily promoted first week with the relaunched version of the program and its new anchor.
The rollout was marred by a series of on-air mistakes including a teleprompter screw-up that featured several seconds of dead air time while confused Dokoupil questioned what story he should read next.
Despite the blunders, CBS showed a 9 percent viewer increase while still trailing ABC and NBC, sources say.
