Norah O’Donnell is returning to CBS Mornings as a co-host, reuniting with Gayle King and joining Nate Burleson on the US network’s flagship morning programme from Tuesday, 8 September.
The Emmy Award-winning journalist previously presented the show, then known as CBS This Morning, alongside King for seven years before moving to the CBS Evening News in 2019.
Her return comes as CBS News seeks to bolster its morning coverage and sharpen its political reporting ahead of November’s midterm elections. The programme has also faced a decline in viewing figures, averaging about 1.7 million viewers for the season to 30 August — around 9 per cent lower than the same period a year earlier, according to Nielsen figures reported by TheWrap.
O’Donnell left the evening bulletin in January 2025 after almost six years as anchor and managing editor. She has since remained with CBS News as a senior correspondent, joined 60 Minutes as a correspondent and launched Healthful, a weekly podcast focused on women’s health.
In a message to staff, CBS Mornings executive producer Jon Tower described the appointment as a homecoming and praised the relationship between O’Donnell and King.
“They know each other, respect each other, and — maybe most importantly — genuinely enjoy each other,” he wrote. “To put it simply, I can’t think of a team I’d rather watch navigate the news than Gayle, Nate and Norah.”
Tower said O’Donnell’s experience made her “a perfect match” for King and Burleson, whose different presenting styles include King’s interview-led approach and Burleson’s background in sport and broadcasting.
O’Donnell has covered eight US presidential elections and interviewed every living former president of the United States, as well as the late Jimmy Carter. In 2024, she conducted an exclusive interview with Pope Francis in Rome, described by CBS as the first interview with the pontiff by an American journalist.
Her reporting has earned numerous major journalism honours. In 2023, she and the CBS Evening News received an Edward R Murrow Award for coverage of the overturning of Roe v Wade. She also won the Alfred I duPont-Columbia Award in 2022 and a Scripps Howard Award in 2021 for an investigation into sexual assault in the US military.
Before becoming an anchor, O’Donnell served as CBS News’ chief White House correspondent during Barack Obama’s presidency.
She is also the author of the New York Times bestseller We the Women: Hidden Heroes Who Shaped America, which examines the contributions of women throughout US history and was published as part of preparations for the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
