Veteran producer Kim Harvey has been tapped to take over the “CBS Evening News,” which has lost viewers since a recent revamp.
The network announced Thursday that Harvey will replace Guy Campanile, a “60 Minutes” producer who joined the program last year.
Campanile, who was brought on by former “60 Minutes” executive producer Bill Owens when he oversaw recent changes at the newscast, will return to the newsmagazine.
“CBS Evening News” has been struggling to retain viewers since it replaced Norah O’Donnell, who held the anchor chair for five years.
Kim Harvey is the new executive producer of “CBS Evening News.”
(CBS News)
CBS News added John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois as co-anchors and put an emphasis on longer stories closer to the style of “60 Minutes.” But the program has failed to gain any traction against ABC’s “World News Tonight With David Muir” and NBC’s “Nightly News With Tom Llamas.”
Harvey’s appointment is likely a precursor to larger changes at the program, including a possible return to a single anchor and a more traditional approach to the newscast. She was a trusted lieutenant of O’Donnell during her run.
Harvey has been with “CBS Evening News” since 2017, eventually rising to senior broadcast producer. She is thoroughly familiar with the operation that has gone through three anchor changes since she arrived.
“Kim brings a sharp news sense and terrific track record of producing from across the broadcast and cable networks,” CBS News President Tom Cibrowski said in a statement. “She is a well-respected newsroom leader and her relationships with our on-air talent, producers and reporters run deep.”
Harvey’s career includes stints at the three major cable news networks. She started her career as a video journalist at CNN.
She spent several years at Fox News, where she produced “The O’Reilly Factor,” which was the network’s top prime time program before host Bill O’Reilly was ousted over sexual harassment allegations.
At MSNBC, Harvey was part of the team that launched “The Rachel Maddow Show” and “All In with Chris Hayes.”
The future of CBS News has been a subject of much speculation since the network’s parent company Paramount Global was taken over by Skydance Media.
Before the merger closed, Paramount Global agreed to pay $16 million to settle President Trump’s legal salvo against “60 Minutes” over the editing of an interview with his 2024 opponent, then-Vice President Kamala Harris. The lawsuit, considered frivolous by 1st Amendment experts, damaged the morale of the news division and likely led to the ouster of Owens in April.
The new owners have also promised the Federal Communications Commission that it will hire an ombudsman who will report to Paramount’s new president, Jeff Shell.