Nate Burleson To Join ‘CBS This Morning’ As Co-Host, Anthony Mason To Move To Culture Reporting Role

CBS This Morning is shaking up its co-host lineup, with Nate Burleson joining the show in September.

Burleson will join Gayle King and Tony Dokoupil on the show. Burleson had guest hosted CTM in May.

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Anthony Mason, co-host since 2019, will shift to a role as reporter on culture.

The network said that Burleson will continue as an analyst on The NFL Today. He joined CBS Sports in 2017.

Burleson’s new role was part of a new agreement with the network for the former NFL player. It also includes appearances on Nickelodeon, while he’ll have an expanded role on the NFL Network.

The changes are the latest for the show since Shawna Thomas joined as executive producer earlier this year, with plans to move to a new Times Square studio this fall. They also are the latest changes at the news division since Neeraj Khemlani and Wendy McMahon were named president and co-heads of the newly combined CBS News and Stations.

In a memo to staffers on Wednesday, Khemlani wrote, “There is a lot in development, and Shawna and I will be taking her team through some of the key changes today. We’re excited to take mornings on CBS in a direction that allows the journalism and storytelling we do so well to continue to lead the conversation and define the culture of our times.”

In a statement, Thomas said that when Burleson guest hosted, “his energy was infectious in the studio, and his versatility spanned all aspects of the show.” Burleson said that “life is about being ready for the right opportunities, and I have been preparing for this moment since my first day on television. Having a chance to inform, enhance or simply brighten up the morning for our viewers is an honor.”

In his memo to the staff, Khemlani wrote that in developing the “next chapter” for the morning show, he had been talking to Mason.

<img class="size-medium wp-image-1202080955" src="https://deadline.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/cbs-this-morning-logo.jpg?w=300&quot; alt=". - Credit: CBS News" width="300" height="187" srcset="https://deadline.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/cbs-this-morning-logo.jpg 498w, https://deadline.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/cbs-this-morning-logo.jpg?resize=150,93 150w, https://deadline.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/cbs-this-morning-logo.jpg?resize=300,187 300w, https://deadline.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/cbs-this-morning-logo.jpg?resize=60,37 60w, https://deadline.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/cbs-this-morning-logo.jpg?resize=352,219 352w, https://deadline.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/cbs-this-morning-logo.jpg?resize=110,68 110w, https://deadline.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/cbs-this-morning-logo.jpg?resize=285,177 285w, https://deadline.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/cbs-this-morning-logo.jpg?resize=320,199 320w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />CBS News

“He has shared his passion for the kind of storytelling we are looking to increase across the news division and he will take on a new role that is tailor-made for him,” Khemlani wrote. Mason will report on a regular basis across the show’s morning programs and develop ideas for digital platforms. Mason joined CBS News in 1986, and also has been interim anchor on CBS Evening News in 2017, following the exit of Scott Pelley. There was a more recent shakeup on that broadcast in July, when Jay Shaylor departed as executive producer of the broadcast, now anchored by Norah O’Donnell.

After numerous attempts to launch a long-lasting morning show franchise, CBS News launched CBS This Morning in 2012 as a harder news alternative to its rivals.

Yet CBS This Morning has still been third place in the ratings, behind Good Morning America and Today, and it has undergone a series of changes since 2017, when Charlie Rose was fired amid sexual harassment allegations. John Dickerson joined Gayle King and O’Donnell on the show as the third co-host in 2018, and Bianna Golodryga was added as a fourth co-anchor later in the year. She left in 2019, and there were further changes that year, when Dickerson moved to 60 Minutes and O’Donnell departed to anchor the evening news. Burleson does not have a journalism background, but that has not been a prerequisite for the morning shift. Michael Strahan, another former NFL player, has been co-hosting Good Morning America since 2016.

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