CBS News cutting 6 percent of staff, shuttering radio operation

CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss and President Tom Cibrowski announced Friday that the outlet will cut 6 percent of its staff and shut down CBS News Radio after almost 100 years in operation, multiple outlets reported.

“We recognize that this is a difficult time for those who will be leaving CBS News,” Weiss and Cibrowski said in a memo to staff obtained by Semafor and CNN. “Because these aren’t just names on a list. They are talented, committed colleagues who have been critical to our success. We’ll treat them all with care and respect.”

“It’s no secret that the news business is changing radically, and that we need to change along with it,” they said, later adding that this “means some parts of our newsroom must get smaller to make room for the things we must build to remain competitive. But these are very hard choices and today is a difficult day.”

The Hill has reached out to CBS News for comment.

The layoffs will affect 60-70 employees, Variety reported. It also extends to CBS News Radio, where William S. Paley started the entire company in 1927. The radio station allowed broadcaster Edward R. Murrow to report from London in World War II and later challenge former Sen. Joseph McCarthy (R-Wis.) over his persecution of American communists.

CBS News Radio, which provides material for about 700 stations across the country, will end its service May 22. Weiss and Cibrowski said the decision to end the radio division “was a necessary decision, [but] it was not an easy one,” according to a second memo obtained by CNN.

“The coming weeks will be difficult for the team members who have worked tirelessly at CBS News Radio,” they said. “We are committed to supporting these valued colleagues with care and respect as we wind down operations. They have been critical to our success and remain treasured friends and professionals. We thank them deeply for their contributions.”

Friday’s announcement comes not long after CBS News cut its staff in October. It also comes amid questions over its editorial direction under Weiss, a conservative writer who previously wrote for The New York Times before she founded The Free Press.

The cuts come as another cost-cutting measure under CBS News’s new parent company, Paramount Skydance, led by CEO David Ellison, a President Trump ally who purchased The Free Press for a reported $150 million last October.

Changes at the network have drawn criticism and prompted some prominent reporters, including former “60 Minutes” correspondent Anderson Cooper, to leave the company.

David Letterman, former host of “The Late Show,” called CBS News a “wreck” in January.

“CBS News for decades … go back to World War II … Ed Murrow would be broadcasting the blitz of London from the rooftops of buildings in London. … That integrity of CBS News has been trampled on, pissed on and eviscerated by these idiots that have taken it over,” Letterman said in a video posted to YouTube.