CBS News is reportedly experiencing a “bloodbath” as executives have canceled several shows and “gutted” its Race and Culture unit – which made news last year when it criticized a Jewish anchor for his “tone” in questioning an anti-Israel author – in a bid to slash costs.
Executives at CBS’s new owner, Skydance, have signaled that they want to slash $2 billion across Paramount. Executives have telegraphed for months that those cost-cutting measures would include harsh layoffs, which were expected to affect 1,000 jobs across Paramount. The CEO of Skydance, David Ellison, said in a memo that the layoffs are aimed at “addressing redundancies that have emerged across the organization” and “phasing out roles that are no longer aligned with our evolving priorities.”
The newly installed editor-in-chief of CBS News, Bari Weiss, said on the morning editorial call on Wednesday that it was an “enormously difficult day,” as some reports indicated that at least 100 employees at the Tiffany Network were laid off.
A media reporter for the Guardian, Jeremy Barr, wrote on X that one staff member said the layoffs were “a bloodbath.”
The initial reports of the layoffs indicated that many of the job cuts fell within the realm of standard layoffs after a merger or during cost-cutting measures, instead of cuts aimed at dramatically overhauling the network.
Broadcast TV news operations are in perennial decline, and regularly go through layoffs, which usually target employees whose work is considered ancillary to the main TV shows. Weekend staffers, digital employees, and staff from “content units” that create content for various shows are usually shown the door.
One program subjected to cuts is “CBS Saturday Morning,” which is being “radically revamped.” The Post reported that the weekend hosts, Michelle Miller and Dana Jacobson, were laid off. The program’s executive producer, Brian Applegate, was also laid off.
The Saturday morning show had seen its ratings dip 10 percent to 1.9 million viewers compared to the previous season, a source told the Post that executives determined it was “too expensive.”
CBS News also reportedly canceled its little watched streaming companion shows to “CBS Mornings” and “CBS Evening News,” programs that usually streamed for extra time after their broadcast versions ended.
The post-show for the “CBS Evening News” recently was engulfed in a firestorm of criticism after its host, John Dickerson, said on the webcast that the motivations of the accused killer of Charlie Kirk, Tyler Robinson, “remained elusive” and speculated that the murder was driven by “nihilistic violent extremism.” Utah’s governor had already said publicly that Mr. Robinson had left-wing beliefs and a transgender lover.
There are also reports from the Guardian and the Wrap that CBS News is closing its Johannesburg bureau.
Another unit that was subject to harsh cuts was the controversial Race and Culture unit, which Mr. Barr said had been “gutted.”
The Race and Culture unit was created during the “racial reckoning” in 2020 to review the “tone, content, and intention” of stories related to race. The team was different from other race-focused units at other news organizations in that it had a role in screening and passing judgement on content within CBS News.
The Race and Culture unit faced criticism last year after it was reported that the unit played a key role in the network’s decision to reprimand one of its morning show hosts, Tony Dokoupil, for his line of questioning during an interview with the bestselling anti-Israel author, Ta-Nehisi Coates.
Mr. Dokoupil, who is Jewish, confronted Mr. Coates about some of the virulently anti-Israel rhetoric in his bestselling book “The Message” and said some of it sounded like it would be “in the backpack of an extremist.” Specifically, he asked why Mr. Coates did not mention the daily threats Israel faces or the first or second intifada while criticizing the Jewish state.
The interview sparked internal turmoil and complaints that made their way to the Race and Culture unit. The team did not find an issue with Mr. Dokoupil’s questions, but instead with his tone, even though observers such as the Washington Post called the exchange “calm” and “heartfelt.”
During an editorial meeting on the first anniversary of Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel, which was secretly recorded and leaked to the Free Press, the then-head of editorial and newsgathering at CBS News, Adrienne Roark, said that the Coates interview did not meet the network’s editorial standards.
The reported decision to gut the Race and Culture unit comes less than a month after Ms. Weiss, an anti-woke, pro-Israel journalist who founded the Free Press, took over as CBS News’s editor-in-chief.
Mr. Ellison and executives at Skydance also made written commitments to eliminate the aggressive diversity, equity, and inclusion policies that were put in place at CBS and Paramount after 2020.
Media reporters have speculated that the layoffs will lead to resentment toward the new bosses, especially after Paramount reportedly paid $150 million to acquire the Free Press and give Ms. Weiss her new position at the network.
However, Puck’s Dylan Byers reported that CBS News is losing $35 million a year. CBS News has previously denied that report and told the Sun that the network is profitable. Media insiders have noted that accounting for broadcast networks is very complicated and can be manipulated to present whatever image executives want. Mr. Byers has not retracted his reporting about the network’s finances.
CBS News did not respond to the Sun’s request for comment by the time of publication.