Nonunion staff at the “CBS Evening News” have been offered buyouts amid an overhaul of the nighttime news program now helmed by anchor Tony Dokoupil, according to a new report.
CBS told staffers Wednesday that the buyout plans were afoot, according to The Hollywood Reporter, a day after editor-in-chief Bari Weiss announced the addition of 18 paid commentators, including several conservative voices. Weiss, who started in October, pledged to remake the entire CBS News division into an offering “fit for purpose in the 21st century” that will regain audience trust, she told a staff town hall.
“Our strategy until now has been to cling to the audience that remains on broadcast television,” Weiss said, according to remarks she released publicly. “If we stick to that strategy, we’re toast.”
Weiss also encouraged staffers to view CBS’ news division as “the best capitalized media startup in the world” and encouraged anyone who feels “that’s not your bag” to leave.
As such, she plans to pursue a social-media-first strategy coupled with a “huge emphasis on scoops,” she said at the town hall.
CBS News is currently in third place in network news viewership. The network, owned since last August by Paramount Skydance Corp. under CEO David Ellison, has come under fire for bouncing a “60 Minutes” story detailing the conditions at El Salvador’s CECOT prison, where the U.S. deported several Venezuelan migrants (though it did air a month later), as well as for canceling “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.”
Several longstanding news pros have left the network out of ethical concerns.
Meanwhile Dokoupil, who took over after the departures of seasoned evening news anchors John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois, was criticized Wednesday for interviewing his own mother for a story on the cognitive benefits grandparents reap from caring for their grandchildren.
With News Wire Services
