The report was based on a study in New York Post, CBS Evening NewsNorah O’Donnell, anchor of the NBC News has an attitude problem. According to the New York Post, O’Donnell’s attitude isn’t changing despite being third in ratings.
Neeraj Kheni, CBS News’s co-president, has said that he has tried to lower costs at the third-place network. He has also been looking into firing O’Donnell. O’Donnell earns between $6 and $8 million annually. O’Donnell’s contract expires this spring and Khemlani could let O’Donnell go as he’s considering revamping the CBS Evening News.
There has been some speculation that O’Donnell’s days may be over at CBS. However, the gossips have grown since the Russian invasion in Ukraine. O’Donnell was O’Donnell’s only anchor who did not report from Ukraine.
“David Muir, Lester Holt and Anderson Cooper are all in Ukraine. Where’s Norah? We are in the middle of a war and she’s reporting from Washington, DC,” a source said according to the New York Post. “Either she didn’t want to go or leadership didn’t want her to go. It’s bad either way.”
O’Donnell’s behavior on set has been described as diva-like and truly bizarre, according to the Post O’Donnell requires a full “dress rehearsal” of her nightly news show “half an hour before the show airs” Which according to a source is “an often tense ritual that has seen O’Donnell chewing out dressing room stylists over her hair and makeup.”
“’There was an incident last year in the studio where she ranted about how her bronzer was wrong,’ one insider said, noting that her hair and makeup staff take the brunt of her tantrums and have been known to end up in tears.”
According to the Post, another insider said that full dress rehearsals are “very unusual” for news shows. An insider said that O’Donnell’s show producers used the rehearsals as a way to make him appear less robotic and human in front of camera.
O’Donnell is also said to use practice sessions in order to determine what segments to be scrapped, according to a source. Sometimes, O’Donnell even has fifteen minutes before live broadcast. “The rehearsals are an excuse to blow up packages 15 minutes before the show, one source griped. She alters the wording to make it more segment-oriented. Everyone has a stroke.”
O’Donnell also has quite an expensive wardrobe budget as well, with one insider claiming the allowance is $65,000 a year. Although O’Donnell’s publicist Cindi Berger denies this “It’s a clothing allowance, every news anchor has one. That figure is incorrect,” Berger said.
The New York Post also notes that O’Donnell has been causing problems at CBS for awhile and this revelation is just the latest escalation of the tense relationship between the host and the new executive:
Now, insiders say O’Donnell is facing heat from Khemlani, who was hired last year to revamp the organization. As previously reported by The Post, Khemlani’s gruff, exacting management style has ruffled feathers at CBS, leading to the departure of a slew of well-respected execs and journalists, including London Bureau Chief Andy Clarke, who left amid a spat over the cost of extracting Afghan journalists and fixers who worked for CBS.
O’Donnell and Khemlani began their tense relationship when it was reported that CBS was searching to replace O’Donnell. Which understandably upset O’Donnell and her team.
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