The CEO of CBS News, Wendy McMahon, said on Monday that she resigned after four years, the last fallout from the network when her parent company was planning to settle a lawsuit with the presidentDonald TrumpOn a “60 -minute” interview with his former political opponent.
McMahon, who led both the network division of the network and the news of the stations belonging to CBS, said in an e-mail to the staff that “it has become clear that the company and I do not agree on the path to follow. It’s time to move on and for this organization to advance with a new leadership. ”
McMahon clearly indicated that she is preparing to settle with Trump – just like the executive producer “60 minutes” Bill Owens,who left last month.
Trump continued CBS, alleging that he had published an interview with a democratic opponent 2024Kamala HarrisLast fall for the benefit. CBS News denied it. CBS mother company, Overallis in talks to potentially settle the Trump trial. At the same time, Paramount Global seeks the approval of the administration of a merger with Skydance Media.
George Cheeks, CO-PDG of Paramount and head of the CBS network, said that the main deputies of McMahon, the president of CBS News, Tom Cibrowski, and the president of CBS stations, Jennifer Mitchell, will return to him directly.
McMahon, in his note, said that “the last months have been difficult”.
“I spent the last months to support our companies and make sure that the good leaders are in place, and I have no doubt that they will continue to establish the standard,” she said.
In addition to the fight with Trump, the controlling shareholder of Paramount,Shari Redstoneexpressed a misfortune on a network coverage of the War of Israel in Gaza, including a “60 -minute” room this winter. Paramount began to supervise the stories of “60 minutes” of new ways, in particular by asking the former president of CBS News, Susan Zirinsky, to examine some of his stories before their dissemination.
This additional layer contributed to the resignation of Owens. One of the correspondents of the show, Scott Pelley,Said in the airthat “none of us is happy” of changes.
CBS News is also trying to establish the new anchoring team of John Dickerson and Maurice Dubois during their filial “CBS Eventing News” in the midst of rating problems.
In his note to staff members, the cheeks praised McMahon for extending local news in CBS stations and improved their competitive positions, as well as improving digital offers from the network.
Despite the internal tensions, the “60 -minutes” broadcast madeSeveral notably difficult storiesOn the Trump administration, and he attracted the president’s anger. Heattacked the showAfter an episode in April. “Almost every week, 60 minutes … mentions the name” Trump “in a derogatory and defamatory way,” said the president on social networks.
In the final of the season of Sunday of “60 minutes”, a story that had been planned and announced publicly on the discounts of the Internal Revenue Service was not broadcast. A spokesperson said it was because on Friday, CBS learned that IRS leaders told senior executives that he had decided to recall some 7,000 probationary employees at work.
CBS said he would continue to account for details and disseminate history in the future.
A Trump regulations with Paramount has priority. The Walt Disney Co. decided in December toPay $ 15 million to finishA defamation trial of Trump against ABC News concerning a declaration made by George Stephanopoulos of the network concerning a case of sexual assault against Trump.
The new administration fought with the media on several fronts, in particular:
– engaging in aShort batch with the Associated PressReducing access because the agency has not followed Trump’s wishes to rename the Gulf of Mexico.
– make efforts to close the information managed by the government such as theVoice of America.
-CutFinancing of public dissemination.
This story was initially presented on Fortune.com
