Welcome to the first day of spring (unless you're reading this from the Southern Hemisphere). Now here's the latest on CBS... |
CBS News is shutting down CBS News Radio and laying off about 6% of its entire workforce today, with executives explaining the cuts as a difficult but necessary reallocation of newsroom resources.
"Bari Weiss' Restructuring Begins," The Hollywood Reporter said in a push alert just now.
This is the second round of layoffs at CBS News since David Ellison took control of Paramount last summer. The cuts back in October largely predated Weiss's arrival. But this round is more specifically a reflection of her vision.
Weiss and CBS News president/executive editor Tom Cibrowski framed it this way in a memo this morning: "It's no secret that the news business is changing radically, and that we need to change along with it. New audiences are burgeoning in new places, and we are pressing forward with ambitious plans to grow and invest so that we can be there for them."
The key line: "That means some parts of our newsroom must get smaller to make room for the things we must build to remain competitive."
One hour later, in a second memo, the executives told the staff that CBS News Radio will sign off the air on May 22. "While this was a necessary decision, it was not an easy one," they wrote. "A shift in radio station programming strategies, coupled with challenging economic realities, has made it impossible to continue the service."
Today's cutbacks are a familiar story — but one punctuated by what many view as a sharp editorial and ideological shift for the news division under Weiss' leadership.
After she arrived at CBS last October, Weiss was taken aback by both the
obsolete nature of some operations and the depleted morale of some staffers, according to people who have spoken with her. Weiss also perceived a stark resistance to change in some quarters of CBS. The staff overhaul stems, in part, from those observations.
The news division currently has about 1,100 employees, so dozens will be departing today. And I think it's fair to say this isn't a one-day-and-done resizing, the way The Washington Post cut back in so many areas in one fell swoop last month. There will be further changes at CBS News in the coming months, especially as talent contracts expire. Here's my full story for CNN.com...
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Full extent of cuts is unclear |
Last October's layoffs went deep, reaching almost every corner of the organization. We'll have a better sense of today's cutbacks this afternoon. "Employees who are affected will be notified by the end of the day," Weiss and Cibrowski's first memo said.
The memo said "we'll treat them all with care and respect" and acknowledged the "exceptionally intense" news cycle: "This organization is working its heart out to deliver for our audience. We're so grateful to all of you, and we thank you for handling this difficult news with compassion."
The second memo, specifically about radio, noted that "the coming weeks will be difficult for the team members" since they'll be keeping the radio network on the air until May while knowing their jobs are ending. Weiss tried to figure out a way to save the radio network, according to a source, but "the financials made it impossible," with barely any revenue coming in.
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Speculation about a future merger of CBS News and CNN has consumed both newsrooms ever since Paramount prevailed in the tug-of-war for Warner Bros Discovery on February 26.
However, the possibility of Paramount owning CNN in the future did not factor into the planning for this current round of layoffs, sources at CBS told me.
Regulatory approval for Paramount-WBD is still thought to be at least six months away, and legally the companies must operate separately until then.
Of course, CNN and CBS employees have lots of opinions about how a merger could and should happen. This combo has been studied many times before; some CNN executives still have old copies of old plans for it.
But my best sense (both as a reporter covering this beat and as an employee who values a vibrant newsroom) is that any CNN-CBS combination is still a ways off. In other words, even if Paramount completes the WBD deal in September, as Ellison hopes, there won't be an immediate stitching together of the two news divisions. (And as I've written before, it's all complicated by the fact that the CBS News workforce is heavily unionized while CNN's is not.)
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Paramount CEO David Ellison is trying to convince California politicos that he's good for business, according to a letter obtained by THR's Katie Kilkenny.
In the letter to Sen. Adam Schiff and Rep. Laura Friedman, Ellison argued that a merged Paramount-WBD "can and will bring more stories to life, support filmmakers and talent with real scale, and compete effectively on the global stage as an independent media leader."
The legacy studios will be "operating separately," he added, "thereby preserving and potentially increasing jobs," Ellison wrote. Key word: "Potentially." More about that here...
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FCC clears massive TV deal as state AGs vow to fight |
Well, how about that timing! Hours after eight Democratic state attorneys general sued to block the Nexstar-Tegna deal, the FCC and the DOJ both gave Nexstar the necessary federal approvals, and thus Nexstar announced that it had "closed" (completed) the takeover of Tegna.
The state AG lawsuit will continue, I'm told, but from a seemingly weaker position. DirecTV also filed suit against the Nexstar deal yesterday. Nexstar said nothing about the pending lawsuits in its statement. Journalists at the affected stations are girding themselves for cutbacks and other changes. Here's my story...
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Nexstar thanks Trump personally |
Nexstar CEO Perry Sook said, "This transaction is essential to sustaining strong local journalism in the communities we serve." He thanked Trump and FCC chair Brendan Carr personally for "recognizing the dynamic forces shaping the media landscape and enabling this transaction to move forward."
Carr made similar comments while OKing the deal. He said the national TV ownership rule had been waived in this case, "consistent with longstanding FCC authorities." (Media reform advocates say the waiver will likely trigger a legal challenge.)
>> Anna Gomez, the FCC's lone Democrat, condemned what she called a "closed door" approval of the deal, which happened without a full commission vote. Gomez said, "The consequences of this rubber stamp approval will be felt in living rooms and newsrooms across the country, resulting in fewer voices, less competition, and higher costs for consumers."
>> "Nothing here is normal," former FCC staffer Gigi Sohn told NPR's David Folkenflik. "This is the prime example of the fix being in..."
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Station owners cheer FCC approval, silent on FCC threats |
Remember when Carr threatened station licenses last weekend, and the trade association for station owners said nothing? Well, the National Association of Broadcasters was quick to say something about the Nexstar deal, which tells you a lot about the industry's priorities. NAB said, "We are grateful to Chairman Brendan Carr for his recognition that the national ownership cap is outdated and no longer reflects today's media marketplace." In other words: Other TV station groups have the green light to merge.
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"In an unprecedented move, ABC said it would not move forward with airing the upcoming season of 'The Bachelorette,' which had been scheduled to debut Sunday," CNN's Lisa Respers France reports. The show is produced by Warner Bros., part of WBD, which also owns CNN.
By now, you've seen the video published by TMZ, and you know why ABC had to yank the show. But the video of titular bachelorette Taylor Frankie Paul's 2023 altercation with her ex is just part of the story. Paul is "the messiest woman on television," as Vulture's Rebecca Jennings put it in this behind-the-scenes dispatch that'll catch you up on everything.
Thus, "the rise and fall of Paul as the star of the franchise was entirely predictable," Andrea González-Ramírez wrote in a piece for The Cut titled "What Was ABC Thinking?"
She says "the most cynical read is that executives ignore red flags — glaringly obvious ones documented in past court proceedings, on social media, and on her other television series — to make money off of someone who seems to be deeply unwell."
Speaking of her other series, Hulu's "Secret Lives of Mormon Wives," NBC's Rebecca Cohen and Rebecca Keegan reported this morning that Paul's "Secret Lives" castmates "told ABC executives at a meeting earlier this month they had concerns about continuing the show" if Paul was still involved, citing the abuse allegations against her. Production of the show was paused earlier this week.
Yet ABC continued to roll out the new "Bachelorette" season, and Paul even appeared on "Good Morning America" to promote it Wednesday morning, which was a bad look for the morning show in retrospect...
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"While it would not at all be surprising if this season of Bachelorette never saw the light of day," the fact that ABC used the words "for now" "clearly indicates no final decision has been made," Vulture's Joe Adalian pointed out. "Yet Disney probably has a very strong incentive to cut its losses and move on," citing a source who said the company can easily "write off cost of show."
>> New Disney CEO "Josh D'Amaro is having a hell of a first week," Deadline's Kate Campione joked on X. It's true. Bet he didn't see this being his first crisis!
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Government appeals VOA ruling |
"The Justice Department has appealed Judge Lamberth's ruling in the U.S. Agency for Global Media/Voice of America cases," WaPo's Scott Nover noted last night. The filing also included a Reconstitution Plan for bringing the staff back to work, per Lamberth's order. We're "looking forward to return to work," a VOA journalist told me, "but this whole exercise shows how blatantly Kari Lake has wasted taxpayers' dollars."
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Nashville reporter freed from ICE custody |
As we telegraphed in yesterday's edition, Estefany Rodríguez has been released from ICE custody on bond after her arrest earlier this month. CNN's Liam Reilly has the details here. Rodríguez is scheduled to appear before a judge next Friday. The judge can either decide to dismiss the case or schedule another hearing. Her lawyer says he's trying to secure an order to bar ICE "from mistreating her in a similar way in the future..."
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An alt-weekly gets revived by a nonprofit |
Pittsburgh City Paper "is relaunching under new ownership less than three months after the alt-weekly's abrupt shutdown," Axios Pittsburgh’s Chrissy Suttles reports. "LocalMatters, a new nonprofit focused on sustaining local journalism, will revive City Paper online and in print, starting with free monthly print editions..."
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>> "Live Nation Entertainment's longtime chief executive was the star witness" at the ongoing antitrust trial yesterday. (AP)
>> Unionized staffers at ProPublica have "voted to authorize a strike." (TheWrap)
>> In the UK, The Observer "has offered staff buyouts almost one year after the transfer of ownership," Bron Maher writes. (A Media Operator)
>> CNBC is adding a live 5 a.m. ET hour anchored by Morgan Brennan. (Variety)
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Horror novel yanked over AI claims |
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