Tony Dokoupil abruptly ended his live broadcast of CBS Evening News from Taipei after his cameraman suffered a sudden medical emergency.
Dokoupil was near the conclusion of the segment when it became clear that something was wrong. “Is he okay?” Dokoupil asked, followed by: “We’re going to take a quick break. We have a medical emergency here. We’re calling a doctor,” before the broadcast was suspended.
Dokoupil reportedly missed the deadline for obtaining a visa to report from Beijing, where President Trump is meeting with China’s leader, Xi Jinping. His network competitors, including Tom Llamas of NBC News and David Muir of ABC News, are currently in Beijing. Dokoupil remains broadcasting from Taipei.
CBS reported that its news service has two other correspondents traveling to China with the president, and that Dokoupil’s presence in Taipei underscores Taiwan’s significance as a major topic at the summit.
The network stated: “Tonight during the final segment of CBS Evening News, our cameraman on set suffered a medical emergency. Thankfully, he’s okay and recovering.”
Earlier in the broadcast, Dokoupil opened with: “On the surface, it might look like all the action is over there,” referring to Beijing. He added: “We will soon see images of President Trump and Xi Jinping as they negotiate the Iran war, tariffs, critical minerals trade and more. But if you zoom out from the state visit, you see one of the most important geopolitical stories of our time, and the big question tonight, will China, under Xi Jinping, try to take over Taiwan, risking war and economic catastrophe? This is what could happen here on the shores and in the streets if Xi decides to invade.”
The network’s Weijia Jiang and Anna Coren are reporting from Beijing.
