The CBS Evening News with Tony Dokoupil kicked off the LIVE Across America tour in South Florida Tuesday.
Before the broadcast, CBS News Miami Anchor Lauren Pastrana met with Dokoupil to talk about his South Florida roots and his mission for the broadcast going forward.
“I’m so sad that I left too soon to have the Spanish down,” Dokoupil said of his childhood in Miami.
He has traveled the world on assignment, but to Dokoupil, it feels like you can get a glimpse of the entire world in Miami.
“South Florida seems to run the world sometimes”
“South Florida seems to run the world sometimes. Like this is the whole South Florida foreign policy operation at this point,” he said. “Think about how many Florida people not only are part of this as a news story, but also part of it as a political story. This is really the epicenter of it.”
Dokoupil was born in South Florida and attended Gulliver Preparatory School in the 80s until 5th grade.
He moved away as a kid, due to forces outside his control, but has always felt a deep connection to his hometown.
“Whenever I’m here it really does feel deeply like home, and I wish it had stayed home,” he said.
He teared up when talking about Miami.
Dokoupil has a promise to viewers in South Florida
“We left because of my father, he got in some trouble with business. We laugh about it now, but he was a drug dealer,” Dokoupil said. “I feel like I was robbed of the full Miami experience. So, when I come back, I really love it here.”
He lives in New York now, but he’s on a mission to make America his office.
As he embarks on his journey as anchor of the CBS Evening News, he has a promise to viewers in South Florida and beyond.
“We put out the call. We said we want to hear from you,” he said. “We’re going to be transparent and accountable. We’ve heard from people. We’re working our way through all the notes, and we are taking it on board because I really feel like covering America means covering it from the inside.”
Dokoupil and the CBS Evening News will also make stops in Dallas, Denver, San Francisco and Detroit, among other cities.
