Doesn't AI stop you from making basic grammar errors like "grabbing he and his wife in their pajamas"?

CBS Evening News in its supposedly new, better form:

Here is the soft launch of the @CBSEveningNews with @TonyDokoupil, not official until Monday, but kicking off two days early in light of the U.S. military strikes in Venezuela and capture of Nicolas Maduro pic.twitter.com/gFlviKfkqh

— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) January 3, 2026

Give I a break!

You seem to think you can amuse us by painting a picture of a man and his wife caught in their pajamas, but I'm not amused. Their capture is serious matter, not a prank. It wasn't about humiliating them. And you humiliate yourself with that glaring, grating grammar mistake.

Get proper editing. How is this mainstream, professional journalism? I'd be embarrassed, on my little 1-person blog, to have written something as bad as "grabbing he and his wife in their pajamas." 

"On too many stories, the press has missed the story. Because we've taken into account the perspective of advocates and not the average American."

"Or we put too much weight in the analysis of academics or elites, and not enough on you."

Said this CBS News man, presumably the current anchor of the "Evening News," which posts this clip without telling us the man's name....

"On too many stories, the press has missed the story. Because we've taken into account the perspective of advocates and not the average American. Or we put too much weight in the analysis of academics or elites, and not enough on you."

That changes now. The new CBS Evening News… pic.twitter.com/NKdvRJjYCS

— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) January 1, 2026

I have no idea who this man is, I don't find his delivery confidence-inspiring, and I haven't watched the CBS Evening News since the days of its famously confidence-inspiring figurehead Walter Cronkite. 

I guess this clip, which appeared at the top of my "For you" feed at X, is supposed to make me believe that change is afoot at CBS. I'm not going to start watching the show to find out. I'll be seeing — and blogging — video clips as they appear on websites I read.

"During an interview in September 2024, Mr. Dokoupil challenged the author Ta-Nehisi Coates about a new book he had written on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict."

"Mr. Dokoupil told Mr. Coates that some of the material in the book 'would not be out of place in the backpack of an extremist,' adding, 'what is it that so particularly offends you about the existence of a Jewish state that is a Jewish safe place?'... Some CBS journalists objected to how Mr. Dokoupil had handled the interview, and the news division’s leadership rebuked the anchor on a newsroom-wide conference call, saying the interview had fallen short of editorial standards. That prompted Shari Redstone, the owner of Paramount at the time, to defend Mr. Dokoupil and reprimand her own executives, saying 'they made a mistake' in questioning the anchor...."

From "Tony Dokoupil Is Named Anchor of ‘CBS Evening News’/He replaces John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois in one of the most high-profile decisions of Bari Weiss’s early tenure as the network’s editor in chief" (NYT).

Here's how Bari Weiss's Free Press covered the story at the time: "How Is CBS Marking October 7? By Admonishing Tony Dokoupil":

"[CBS journalist Tony] Dokoupil met for an hour with members of the CBS News standards and practices team and the in-house Race and Culture Unit..."

"... which advises on 'context, tone and intention' of news programming. The conversation focused on Mr. Dokoupil’s tone of voice, phrasing and body language during his interview with [Ta-NeHisi] Coates.... Executives who discussed the interview on Monday’s call had asked staff members to keep their remarks confidential. But their comments were reported within hours by Puck, and The Free Press, the news and opinion site run by Bari Weiss, published audio recordings of the meeting.... Jan Crawford, the chief legal correspondent at CBS News, spoke up later on the call to say she did not understand why Mr. Dokoupil’s questions had not met editorial standards. 'When someone comes on our air with a one-sided account of a very complex situation, as Coates himself acknowledges that he has, it’s my understanding that as journalists we are obligated to challenge that worldview so that our viewers can have that access to the truth or a fuller account,' Ms. Crawford said. 'To me, that is what Tony did.' Ms. Crawford said she was confused as to how CBS correspondents should proceed. 'What is the objective standard for the rest of us when we are doing our own interviews?' she asked."

From "CBS Rebukes Anchor Over Tense Interview With Ta-Nehisi Coates/Executives said the interview, conducted by the morning show anchor Tony Dokoupil, had fallen short of network editorial standards" (NYT). You can see video of Dokoupil questioning Coates here.