CBS News begins new round of layoffs: ‘This is really hard and really tough’ | CBS
CBS News announced Friday that it will lay off dozens of employees as part of a strategic restructuring that editor-in-chief Bari Weiss and president Tom Cibrowski announced in a memo to employees. The two managers’ memo stated that employees would be notified at the end of the day if their work was affected.
The cuts are expected to affect 6% of the staff of about 1,100, according to a person with knowledge of the situation. Previous reports had put the cuts Close to 15%.
“We recognize this is a difficult time for those leaving CBS News,” Weiss and Cibrowski wrote. “Because these are not just names on the list. They are talented, dedicated colleagues who play a critical role in our success. We will treat them all with care and respect.”
Executives place the cuts in the broader context of the changing media business.
“It is no secret that the news industry is changing radically and we must change with it,” Weiss and Cibrowski wrote. “New audiences are sprouting up in new places, and we’re moving forward with ambitious plans to grow and invest to be there for them. That means parts of our newsroom have to shrink to make room for the things we need to build to stay competitive.”
Weiss opened the network’s 9 a.m. editorial call by explaining to employees how the cuts would work and emphasizing that “it’s really hard and it’s really challenging.”
“The most important thing I want to say to everyone in this newsroom, and especially to the people who will be affected today, is that this has absolutely nothing to do with the quality of your work and how you have poured your heart and soul into this organization,” Weiss said, according to an audio recording of his remarks obtained by the Guardian. “This has to do with the times we live in and the fact that this industry is transforming perhaps more than any other industry.”
“We are here to support you today and we are here to support you after today. I promise you,” Cibrowski said during the meeting. “In the meantime, you will have questions, and we are here to answer them to the best of our ability. But let’s respect the process that begins today.”
However, this did little to calm employees’ nerves. “I’m not in the best of mood here, hahaha,” one employee, who was not authorized to comment, told the Guardian.
The cuts follow an earlier round of layoffs — described at the time as a “bloodbath” — that took place in late October, just weeks after Weiss began her job in the newsroom. By contrast, Weiss, along with Cibrowski, was more directly involved in planning Friday’s outages.
The network also lost several key employees through proposed buyouts to CBS Evening News employees and some major resignations, including prominent justice correspondent Scott MacFarlane, who said earlier this month that he planned to go the independent route.
The network’s most-watched show, 60 Minutes, took a hit last month when reporter Anderson Cooper, who is also CNN’s prime-time anchor, announced he would not continue with the show.
Friday’s cuts are the second since Skydance Media acquired CBS News parent company Paramount in August. Paramount Skydance is owned by Warner Bros., CNN’s parent company. Even more disruption is expected with its acquisition of Discovery pending regulatory approval. Paramount said the merger could result in $6 billion in cost savings.
Weiss and Cibrowski acknowledged that the timing of the outages was particularly difficult, given that the channel’s journalists were busy covering the burgeoning war in Iran and its effects on a global scale.
“This is a difficult message to receive at any time, especially in the midst of an extremely busy news cycle,” they wrote.
After talking about layoffs at the beginning of the morning meeting, Weiss moved on to discussing the day’s news. “Let’s start with war, if possible.”
