Wendy McMahon announced Monday that she was stepping down from her position as president and CEO of CBS News, noting that it had become clear in the past few months that she does “not agree on the path forward” with the company. Sources later told The Independent that she was forced out of her post after executives at corporate parent Paramount Global told her they wanted her to resign.
The New York Times first reported that McMahon was pushed out of her position.
“Everyone is worried,” one CBS insider told The Independent about McMahon’s resignation, adding that much of the staff “doesn’t have much faith in the new executives.” Another staffer added that the newsroom was “reeling from this” and very concerned about the direction of the network going forward.
“People believe in her vision of storytelling and journalism in the traditional CBS News way, as opposed to the flash and trash that you see at other networks that shall not be named,” the staffer declared.
The move comes weeks after 60 Minutes executive producer Bill Owens resigned over what he described as a loss of independence at the network and flagship newsmagazine in the wake of settlement talks with President Donald Trump over a lawsuit that legal experts say is completely meritless. McMahon’s resignation could indicate that Paramount is on the cusp of settling with the president.
“This has been one of the most meaningful chapters in my career,” McMahon wrote to staff in a letter obtained by The Independent. “Leading this extraordinary organization has been the honor of a lifetime because I got to work alongside all of you. Your commitment to truth, fairness and the highest standards is unassailable.”
She added: “Championing and supporting the journalism produced by the most amazing stations and bureaus in the world, celebrating the successes of our shows and our brands, elevating our stories and our people … It has been a privilege and joy.”
Still, McMahon noted that she had butted heads with corporate leadership on the direction of the news network, almost certainly referencing the CBS parent company Paramount Global’s discussions to settle Trump’s lawsuit over a 60 Minutes interview with Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris just before the 2024 election. The president has claimed that the interview was deceptively edited and constituted election interference, resulting in a $20 billion lawsuit that CBS News has said is “without merit.” However, Paramount’s top shareholder Shari Redstone has pushed to settle the case in order to get the Trump administration to green light the company’s massive merger with Skydance.
The Independent has reached out to representatives for CBS News and Paramount for comment.
“At the same time, the past few months have been challenging. It’s become clear that the company and I do not agree on the path forward. It’s time for me to move on and for this organization to move forward with new leadership,” McMahon added. “I have spent the last few months shoring up our businesses and making sure the right leaders are in place; and I have no doubt they will continue to set the standard.”
In a separate letter sent out to CBS News staff, also obtained by The Independent, George Cheeks — co-CEO of Paramount and CEO of CBS — expressed his admiration for McMahon while noting who will now take her place in running the news broadcaster.
“Going forward, CBS News President Tom Cibrowski and CBS Stations President Jennifer Mitchell will each report directly to me,” he wrote. “For CMV, Scott Trupchak, who heads advertising sales, and John Budkins, who oversees programming and production, will report to Bryon Rubin, CBS’ Chief Operating Officer and CFO. Wendy will be with us for a few weeks to support the transition.”
“On a personal note, I want to thank Wendy for her partnership over the past four years,” Cheeks noted. “Under her leadership, the competitive position and culture at our television stations have improved dramatically, and we’ve expanded local news significantly. Our streaming news platforms – national and local – are stronger and growing, with digital extensions now in place for several of our flagship CBS News broadcasts.
He concluded: “In a rapidly changing world, Wendy and her teams have worked diligently to articulate a vision and lay a foundation that adapts our news operations for the future. This includes advancements in data journalism, community journalism, technology and centralizing editorial decisions to help teams move faster.”
The CBS insider pointed out that there was concern that the recent influx of ABC News executives to fill out the top ranks of the news network’s leadership has also prompted some to worry about CBS News’ identity going forward.
“The fear is that the new executives want to turn CBS into a poor man’s version of ABC. Especially since most of the people are former ABC News executives who were fired,” the network insider noted, adding that at least one of the execs is “making it clear they are power grabbing” amid the changes.
“This seems like it’s more of the changing of the guard. And not in a good way,” the CBS staffer stated.
McMahon, who took over as CBS News chief in 2023 and previously served as president of Disney’s ABC stations, has been caught in the middle of a tumultuous past few months at the network amid Redstone’s attempts to cash in on a mega-merger with Skydance, which has also seen the top shareholder increasingly meddle in the network’s news coverage.
Even before the president sued CBS over the 60 Minutes interview, Redstone expressed frustration with McMahon and the news division’s leadership over the way they handled the fallout over CBS Mornings anchor Tony Dokoupil’s combative interview with Ta-Nehisi Coates. While McMahon found that Dokoupil had violated the network’s standards and practices with his aggressive questioning of Coates, which saw the morning host suggest the celebrated author was an extremist for his views on Gaza, Redstone —a longtime backer of pro-Israeli causes and charities — publicly supported Dokoupil.
Additionally, McMahon has faced questions over the recent overhaul of CBS Evening News, which has been met with dwindling ratings following a format change featuring co-anchors Maurice DuBois and John Dickerson.
Meanwhile, amid Paramount’s settlement discussions with Trump’s legal team, Owens and McMahon made it clear that they would not apologize for the way the Harris interview was edited or the show’s coverage of Trump and his administration. All the while, Redstone has looked to rein in the legendary news show, installing CBS veteran producer Susan Zirinsky as the new executive editor overseeing standards one day after the program ran a segment about those impacted by the war in Gaza because she viewed it as antisemitic.
Months later, the president once again blew up at 60 Minutes over two reports the show did on Trump’s Oval Office meltdown with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his attempt to take over Greenland, calling on his handpicked Federal Communications Commission chairman Brendan Carr to “impose the maximum fines and punishment” on Paramount and CBS “for their unlawful and illegal behavior.”
After the president’s tirade, Redstone asked Cheeks to keep her briefed about all politically sensitive topics covered by the Sunday night show for the rest of the season, which ended this week. She even reportedly went so far as to ask Cheeks if “it would be possible to delay sensitive stories about Trump or his policies until after she had closed the Skydance deal.” Though 60 Minutes had not made any programming changes at that time as a result of Redstone’s requests, Owens felt that he had no choice but to step down over what he felt was corporate interference.
McMahon, for her part, made sure to signal her support for Owens internally throughout the increasing behind-the-scenes tension, saying at the time of the respected producer’s resignation that “standing behind” him “was an easy decision for me.”
“It’s clear that I’ve become the problem — I’m the corporation’s problem,” Owens told staff on the day he announced his resignation. He also pointed to “having a minder” on the show as another reason for stepping down, adding that previously, “the corporation didn’t know what was coming up” on the show. At the end of the first 60 Minutes broadcast after Owens announced his resignation, correspondent Scott Pelley issued an on-air rebuke of the corporate bosses while singing the executive producer’s praises.
“Paramount began to supervise our content in new ways. None of our stories has been blocked, but Bill felt he lost the independence that honest journalism requires,” Pelley concluded. “No one here is happy about it, but in resigning, Bill proved one thing. He was the right person to lead 60 Minutes all along.”
With recent mediation sessions between Paramount and the president’s legal team ending with the two sides still very far apart on terms of a settlement, Trump took exception to a 60 Minutes segment earlier this month about the president’s executive orders targeting law firms, which featured a well-known Democratic lawyer criticizing Trump’s actions.
“Mr. Trump’s lawyers perceived those quotes, and the segment as a whole, as an attempt by CBS to gain the upper hand in the settlement negotiations, according to a person with knowledge of the internal discussions. They then countered by conveying a threat to Paramount: Mr. Trump might file a new lawsuit, accusing Paramount and CBS of defaming him in the ‘60 Minutes’ episode,” the New York Times reported.
Incidentally, while recent episodes didn’t have any Trump-centric segments pulled or changed, the season finale of 60 Minutes was supposed to air a segment hosted by Anderson Cooper on the “recent large-scale firings at the Internal Revenue Service — part of President Trump’s efforts to reduce the size of the federal workforce — and the impact they could have on the agency’s ability to collect taxes and crack down on tax fraud.”
Just ahead of Sunday night’s broadcast, the network announced that the segment wouldn’t air due to recent developments.
“There have been late developments in our report that was scheduled to air Sunday night, May 18, about the roughly 7,000 probationary employees who were dismissed from their jobs at the Internal Revenue Service in February,” the show stated in an editor’s note sent on Sunday morning. “60 Minutes has learned that on Friday afternoon, IRS leadership informed senior staff it had decided to call probationary employees back to work by the end of this coming week. Our team will continue to report on these new details and will broadcast the story in the future.”
Prior to the producers of the show deciding to cut the broadcast for editorial reasons, however, the segment had become a point of consternation among the corporate bosses. Cheeks, according to The New York Times, “considered an idea to broadcast an unrelated prime-time special on Sunday that would air instead of the network’s evening lineup,” including the season finale of 60 Minutes.
