CBS News is cutting about 6% of its workforce in a move that will eliminate dozens of jobs across a division of roughly 1,100 employees, marking the second round of layoffs since David Ellison took control of Paramount last summer.
In a Friday memo to staff, CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss and president and executive editor Tom Cibrowski described the reductions as a painful but necessary reallocation of resources inside a business they said is changing rapidly.
“These are very hard choices and today is a difficult day,” they wrote, adding that the company must adapt as “new audiences are burgeoning in new places.”
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Weiss and Cibrowski said some areas of the newsroom “must get smaller to make room for the things we must build to remain competitive.”
A 6% cut from a newsroom of about 1,100 employees translates to roughly 66 positions, putting this firmly in the category of a significant staff reduction rather than marginal trimming. Employees affected by the layoffs were told they would be notified by the end of the day Friday.
The restructuring accelerated further one hour later when executives sent a second memo announcing that CBS News Radio will sign off on May 22. Management said changing programming strategies at radio stations and tougher economic conditions made continuation of the service impossible.
Executives said “the coming weeks will be difficult for the team members” because they will keep the network on the air until May while already knowing their jobs are ending. According to a source familiar with the cuts, Weiss explored ways to preserve the network, but the economics did not work because revenue had fallen to a negligible level.
This round differs from the previous layoffs in October, which affected almost every corner of CBS News, including streaming and radio, and largely came before Weiss had established operational control.
After arriving at CBS last October, Weiss was reportedly struck by what she viewed as outdated operations, weakened morale, and resistance to change inside parts of the organization.
Weiss and Cibrowski tried to balance the restructuring message with praise for the remaining staff, calling the news cycle “exceptionally intense” and saying the organization is “working its heart out to deliver for our audience.” They pledged that affected employees would be treated with care and respect.
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