Norah OâDonnell said farewell to âCBS This Morningâ Thursday.
OâDonnell, 45, has been a co-anchor of the broadcast since 2012. She will join âCBS Evening News,â as the anchor and managing editor, replacing Jeff Glor. In addition, she will serve as lead anchor for political events and contribute to â60 Minutes.â

During her on-air departure, the morning show aired a video that included a montage of OâDonnellâs interviews â including snippets of chats with the Dalai Lama, Prince Harry and James Taylor â and warm wishes from her parents and kids.
âCanât wait to have a before-school-breakfast,â her son Henry told her.
Fellow journalists like Anderson Cooper and Robin Roberts also shared kind words, as did the hosts of evening news programs for NBC and ABC, Lester Holt and David Muir, respectively.
The compilation moved OâDonnell to tears.
âThe best is yet to come. I think thatâs for all of us at CBS News,â she said.
Acknowledging her co-hosts, she added: âWeâve made news, weâve been in the news, but weâve also made friendships. This is the greatest team on television.â
Turning to the crew, she extended her appreciation. âYou know how much I love all of you.â
âWhat you should know is we are cheering you on,â said Gayle King, who will remain on âThis Morningâ with new hosts Anthony Mason, a senior national correspondent and CBS veteran, and Tony Dokoupil.

Earlier this month, news broke that she and John Dickerson would be leaving the program as part of a series of sweeping changes at the network. Dickerson has been tapped for â60 Minutesâ and will also have a role in election specials.
When the news was revealed on âThis Morning,â OâDonnell said she would put all she had into her new position.
âI was looking through some things that Walter Cronkite said, and he said, âI canât imagine a person becoming a success in life without giving everything theyâve got.â And so Iâm gonna give this everything Iâve got.â
OâDonnell will be only the third female solo anchor of a network evening newscast, following ABCâs Diane Sawyer and former CBS anchor Katie Couric,
The changes mark the first big moves by Susan Zirinsky, who became CBS Newsâ first female president in March. (A fourth âMorningâ co-anchor, Bianna Golodryga, was relieved of her duties in April after a six-month stint and exercised an option to exit the network).

She is aiming to reverse the fortunes of CBSâ cellar-dwelling âEvening Newsâ and âThis Morningâ telecasts, which for years have lagged behind NBC and ABC in a distant third place, even as CBS leads them in overall primetime audience. Ratings for both broadcasts have suffered in the wake of recent changes: Charlie Roseâs 2017 exit from âThis Morningâ in the wake of sexual misconduct allegations, and the naming of Glor, also in 2017, to succeed Scott Pelley.
Contributing: Gary Levin
