CBS News' Tony Dokoupil Is 'Both-Sidesing' AgainIt's been a tricky first week on the job for Tony Dokoupil, the new anchor for "CBS Evening News," with an awkward debut and a fawning segment on Secretary of State Marco Rubio raising eyebrows about controversial news chief Bari Weiss' big appointment.Dokoupil also faced a backlash for his 17-second report on Trump's whitewashing of Jan. 6, and he was "both-sidesing" again on Wednesday when interviewing a senior Immigration and Customs Enforcement official about agents wearing masks, which Democrats have attempted to ban amid fears of "secret" policing.Dokoupil said he didn't think an officer wearing a mask is the "sign of a healthy democracy," before mapping out two arguments."When you think about the masking question, I talk to people about it, and you hear two perspectives," he began."One is, they wouldn't have to wear the masks if you didn't have all these people who wanted to dox them or otherwise trouble them. And then the other perspective is, yeah, but when they're wearing masks, it just doesn't feel like America. It feels like some other country and not a free country.""I don't know what side to come down on here," Dokoupil added, appearing to ventriloquize a confused American.The interview with Robert Cerna, acting director of the ICE field office in Dallas, came on the day an agent shot dead a 37-year-old Minneapolis woman, and the segment's timing faced criticism for being "the most offensive editorial move" of the new era.Acting Director of the ICE field office in Dallas Robert Cerna explained why ICE agents wear masks in the field. “They wear a mask for their protection and it's not really just their protection, but the protection of their family,” Cerna told @TonyDokoupil, adding that officers… pic.twitter.com/T6aaFvdZtt— CBS Evening News with Tony Dokoupil (@CBSEveningNews) January 8, 2026See All UpdatesClose