Departures Begin at CBS News as Liberal Host John Dickerson Says He’s Leaving: Scores More To Be Laid Off Wednesday

The widely expected cuts at CBS News appear to be under way as one of the co-hosts of the beleaguered “CBS Evening News,” John Dickerson, said he will be leaving the network at the end of the year, not even 12 months into his time as a host of the evening news program that has seen its ratings crater amid a botched revamp overseen by executives who’ve since been ousted. The new owner of CBS, David Ellison, and his team have signaled that they want to slash $2 billion in costs across CBS’s corporate parent, Paramount. Bloomberg reports that the first 1,000 jobs across Paramount will be cut this week, with the New York Post reporting that the cuts will be made on Wednesday. CBS News, which has about 1,800 employees, is expected by informed observers to lose about 10 percent of its already spread-thin staff to the layoffs.The announcement of Mr. Dickerson’s departure comes less than a month after Paramount reportedly spent $150 million to buy the pro-Israel and anti-woke outlet the Free Press and make its founder, Bari Weiss, the editor in chief of CBS News. Ms. Weiss is believed to be tasked with helping to rein in the left-wing, anti-Israel bias at the network. Mr. Dickerson, a literal child of CBS News whose mother was a trailblazing correspondent there herself, has long been criticized for unconscious liberal bias. Most recently, he was lampooned for a segment he did for a little watched, digital-only post-show of the “CBS Evening News” in which he claimed Charlie Kirk’s assassin had no discernible motive.On Monday, Mr. Dickerson posted on Instagram, “At the end of this year, I will leave CBS, sixteen years after I sat in as ‘Face the Nation’ anchor for the first time. I am extremely grateful for all that CBS gave me — the work, the audience’s attention and the honor of being a part of the network’s history— and I am grateful for my dear colleagues who’ve made me a better journalist and a better human. I will miss you.”The president of CBS News, Tom Cibrowski, said in a statement that Mr. Dickerson “decided to step away.” While CBS News officials insisted in background conversations with media reporters that Mr. Dickerson made his own decision to leave, it was possibly a case of what television news old-timers call “jump before shove.” Mr. Dickerson was less than a year into a multi-year contract extension, and the remainder of his contract “will be paid out in full,” according to a far-left media reporter, Oliver Darcy. His leap comes less than a year after he took over as a co-host of the “CBS Evening News” as part of its attempted revamp, orchestrated by the former head of CBS News and Stations, Wendy McMahon, and the former executive producer of “60 Minutes,” Bill Owens. Both Ms. McMahon and Mr. Owens have since been forced out — or, like Mr. Dickerson, “chose to resign.” In January, CBS rolled out its new format for the “Evening News,” replacing host Norah O’Donnell, who was forced out because she made too much money, with an unusual dual-anchor format starring Mr. Dickerson and the even lesser-known Maurice DuBois.On Mr. Owens’s watch, the program shifted away from breaking news stories. Instead, it produced content that seemed more fitting for the news magazine format of “60 Minutes,” a decision that was heavily criticized early into its revamp when the “Evening News” led with a feature on child literacy during a day of major news involving Elon Musk and President Trump, which the program barely covered. Ratings for the news program quickly plummeted and have hovered around 4.2 million, a 10 percent dip from the previous year. Ttese were dire straits even for the already moribund “Evening News,” and CBS News’s new management is widely expected to overhaul the downtrodden program yet again and change up its anchors. Over the summer, the executive producer of the show, Guy Campanile, was sent back to “60 Minutes,” in what was seen as a sign of coming changes to the show. With the expected cuts, CBS and other Paramount properties have been bracing for harsh layoffs.There have been conflicting reports about whether CBS News is profitable. Puck’s Dylan Byers reported in August that the network was losing $50 million a year, then adjusted his data to say it was losing at least $30 million.The network denied that report and insisted the news division is profitable. However, an analyst told Mr. Darcy, the anti-Trump media reporter, that broadcast television accounting is complicated and “it’s all about how you want to do the accounting. … You can make any of these things look however you want.”Regardless of whether the report on CBS’s financial data is accurate, Mr. Darcy suggested that the figure was leaked by someone inside the new management team in an effort to justify the layoffs. Aside from layoffs and reducing the salaries of the network’s marquee talent, it was unclear how the new owners plan on cutting costs, as CBS News has undergone a steady progression of budget cuts over the last several decades. While ABC News and NBC News continue to maintain bloated talent salaries — at ABC, the three “Good Morning America” hosts are believed to earn $25 million a year each — CBS News only has one star on an eight figure income, Gayle King of “CBS Mornings.” Her contract is unlikely to be renewed without a sizable chop, industry insiders say. The departure of Mr. Dickerson — who the New York Post reports was making “a couple of million a year” — comes just months after he criticized Paramount’s decision to pay $16 million to settle President Trump’s $20 billion lawsuit against CBS for its editing of Vice President Harris’ interview with “60 Minutes.”Mr. Dickerson called the settlement a “new obstacle” to honest journalism.“Can you hold power to account after paying it millions? Can an audience trust you when it thinks you’ve traded away that trust?” he asked. “The audience will decide that.”On Monday, the New York Post reported that CBS executives are leaning toward terminating Scott Pelley, the fiercely anti-Trump “60 Minutes” correspondent who also publicly criticized the Trump settlement.The Post also said that “60 Minutes” correspondent Bill Whitaker is in danger because he failed to monitor the selective editing of the interview with Vice President Kamala Harris that led to Mr. Trump’s lawsuit.CBS News did not respond to the Sun’s request for comment by the time of publication.

Departures Begin at CBS News as Liberal Host John Dickerson Says He’s Leaving: Scores More To Be Laid Off Wednesday

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