Matt Gutman answered the Bari Weiss call.
Gutman is leaving ABC News to become CBS News chief correspondent — he is Weiss’s first on-air hire since she took over CBS News. Gutman will report for CBS Morning, CBS Evening News, contribute to 60 Minutes and serve as the lead correspondent for 48 Hours. He’ll also be a substitute anchor as needed; Gutman’s new role begins on Jan. 5, 2026 and will be based in Los Angeles.
Gutman was most recently chief national correspondent at ABC News.
“Matt Gutman goes there. He brings the audience along with him to whatever story he is covering, and he approaches his work with the qualities we look for in all our journalists: fearlessness, energy and relentlessness,” Weiss, CBS News editor-in-chief, said in a statement announcing her first big poaching hire. “I cannot wait for him to get started.”
“I have worked with Matt for decades and I have seen his innate ability to take viewers into a story,” added Tom Cibrowski, president of CBS News. “Whether he’s on the frontlines of a conflict, or the scene of a rescue mission, he has the power to connect with people in a way that informs and engages. He has a sharp news sense, an acute ability to deliver immersive storytelling, and a deep appreciation of history that will be an asset to all of us.”
“I am thrilled to be joining CBS, a network with TV news’ most storied past, and most exciting future. With Bari and Tom at the helm our mission is to tell the most important news stories and bring our audience along with us to places they wouldn’t otherwise be able to go, to give a voice to those who might otherwise not be heard, and to tell it straight,” Gutman said.
Gutman began his journalism career as a freelance print reporter in the Middle East, covering the war on terror. He has since earned Emmys, the Edward R. Murrow Award, The duPont, the Gracie Awards and the NABJ awards. Gutman is a graduate of Williams College in Massachusetts.