The axe is still swinging above CBS News.
The Paramount Skydance unit is considering a fresh round of layoffs, according to three people familiar with the matter, and the cuts could total at least 15% of current staff, marking the latest move by editor in chief Bari Weiss as she attempts to focus the news division on streaming video and presenting more points of view to audiences.
CBS News declined to make executives available for comment. Discussions around layoffs and staff reductions remain fluid, two of these people say, and a timeline for putting them into place — if that decision is final — could start as early as March and as late as May. And while the discussions around personnel have not solidified, they are serious, one of these people said.
Some staffers have already chosen to head to the exits. About 11 producers tied to “CBS Evening News” have opted for buyout packages that were initially offered last month.
During a recent town hall meeting, Weiss told staffers that CBS News needed to do less so-called “commodity” news that people could get from other outlets, and seek instead “to do things that are antimemetic, that are not imitative, that are differentiated, that are things you can’t get anywhere else.” She unveiled a spate of new hires of podcasters who focused less on straight journalism and more on niche fields including politics and medical health. “Right now in America, people are skeptical of institutions, but they trust individuals,” Weiss said.
One of those individuals, a longevity guru named Peter Attia, has come under scrutiny because of revelations of tries he had to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. Weiss, a conservative-leaning opinion writer who sold The Free Press to Paramount for $150 million, has resisted calls to purge Attia from the roster of new CBS contributors she brought on board.
CBS News, like other parts of Paramount Skydance, has already been through a few rounds of cuts, as both old managers and new — the Redstones who backed Pararmount for years, and the new David Ellison-led company that has formed since a sales — have lopped employee rolls across the conglomerate. Like many of its rivals, Paramount Skydance is hobbled by a suite of declining cable networks that carry less relevance to video-watchers who have grown accustomed to creating their own viewing schedules across different streaming hubs.
While there are reasons to shake up parts of CBS News — its evening and morning programs have long run in third place — Weiss appears to be more focused on making news programming more relevant to people who might find it on Paramount+ rather than CBS. Even so, CBS News programs such as “60 Minutes” and “CBS Sunday Morning” continue to have sizable influence and grab good-sized TV audiences — and the advertising dollars that follow them. If there are fewer people at CBS News, will the remaining staff be ample enough to make new content for streamers, while keeping the TV audience coming in?