Up until April 2021,[1] the president and senior executive producer of CBS News was Susan Zirinsky, who assumed the role on March 1, 2019.[2] Zirinsky, the first female president of the network's news division,[3][4] was announced as the choice to replace David Rhodes on January 6, 2019.[5][6] The announcement came amid news that Rhodes would step down as president of CBS News "amid falling ratings and the fallout from revelations from an investigation into sexual misconduct allegations" against CBS News figures and Rhodes.[7]
On April 15, 2021, CBS Television Stations and CBS News announced that their respective divisions would merge into one entity,[8] to be named CBS News and Stations.[9] It was also announced that Neeraj Khemlani (former Executive Vice President of Hearst Newspapers) and Wendy McMahon (former President of the ABC Owned Television Stations Group) were named presidents and co-heads. This transition was completed on May 3, 2021. On August 14, 2023, after Khemlani announced he was stepping down, CBS News named McMahon as its sole President and CEO.[10] The next day on August 15, CBS News appointed Ingrid Ciprian-Matthews, who supervised the Washington, D.C. bureau as its president.[11] She stepped down in July 2024.[12]
History
In 1929, the Columbia Broadcasting System began making regular radio news broadcasts, which were five-minute summaries taken from reports from United Press, one of the three wire services that supplied newspapers with national and international news. In December 1930, CBS chief William S. Paley hired journalist Paul W. White away from United Press as CBS's news editor. Paley put the radio network's news operation at the same level as entertainment, and authorized White to interrupt programming if events warranted. Along with other networks, CBS chafed at the breaking news embargo imposed upon radio by the wire services, which prevented them from using bulletins until they first appeared in print. CBS disregarded an embargo when it broke the story of the Lindbergh kidnapping in 1932, using live on-the-air reporting. Radio networks scooped print outlets with news of the 1932 presidential election.[13]:485–486
In March 1933, White was named vice president and general manager in charge of news at CBS.[14] As the first head of CBS News, he began to build an organization that soon established a legendary reputation.[13]:486
Through its operations in 20 nations, it fostered benevolent diplomatic relations between the United States and other nations in the region while providing an alternative to Nazi propaganda.[23][24][21]
Television
Douglas Edwards, who worked as a CBS News television and radio correspondent for four decades, on the CBS News set in 1952Walter Cronkite, who was anchor of CBS Evening News for nearly two decades, from 1962 to 1981Katie Couric, the first solo female anchor of a major evening news program, served as anchor and managing editor of CBS Evening News from 2006 to 2011.
After becoming commercial station WCBW (channel 2, now WCBS-TV) in 1941, the pioneer CBS television station in New York City broadcast two daily news programs, at 2:30p.m. and 7:30p.m. weekdays, anchored by Richard Hubbell (journalist). Most of the newscasts featured Hubbell reading a script with only occasional cutaways to a map or still photograph. When Pearl Harbor was bombed on December 7, 1941, WCBW (which was usually off the air on Sunday to give the engineers a day off), took to the air at 8:45p.m. with an extensive special report. The national emergency even broke down the unspoken wall between CBS radio and television. WCBW executives convinced radio announcers and experts such as George Fielding Elliot and Linton Wells to come down to the Grand Central studios during the evening and give information and commentary on the attack. The WCBW special report that night lasted less than 90 minutes. But that special broadcast pushed the limits of live television in 1941 and opened up new possibilities for future broadcasts. As CBS wrote in a special report to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the unscheduled live news broadcast on December 7 "was unquestionably the most stimulating challenge and marked the greatest advance of any single problem faced up to that time."
Additional newscasts were scheduled in the early days of the war. In May 1942, WCBW, like most television stations, sharply cut back its live program schedule and the newscasts were canceled, since the station temporarily suspended studio operations, resorting exclusively to the occasional broadcast of films. This was primarily because much of the staff had either joined the service or were redeployed to war related technical research, and to prolong the life of the early, unstable cameras which were now impossible to repair due to the wartime lack of parts.
In May 1944, as World War II began to turn in favor of the Allies, WCBW reopened the studios and the newscasts returned, briefly anchored by Ned Calmer, and then by Everett Holles.[25] After the end of World War II, expanded news programs appeared on the WCBW schedule – whose call letters were changed to WCBS-TV in 1946 – first anchored by Milo Boulton, and later by Douglas Edwards. On May 3, 1948, Edwards began anchoring CBS Television News, a regular 15-minute nightly newscast on the CBS television network, including WCBS-TV. It aired every weeknight at 7:30p.m., and was the first regularly scheduled, network television news program featuring an anchor (the nightly Lowell Thomas NBC radio network newscast was simulcast on television locally on NBC's WNBT, which is now WNBC, for a time in the early 1940s, along with Richard Hubbell, Ned Calmer, Everett Holles, and Milo Boulton on WCBW in the early and mid-1940s, but these were local television broadcasts seen only in New York City). NBC's offering at the time, NBC Television Newsreel (which premiered in February 1948), was simply film footage with voice narration.
In 1948, CBS Radio journalist Edmund Chester emerged as the television network's new Director of News Special Events and Sports.[26][27]
In 1949, Chester collaborated with one of CBS' original Murrow Boys, Larry LeSueur, to produce the innovative news series United Nations In Action. Underwritten by Ford Motor Company as a public service, the broadcasts endeavored to provide live coverage of the proceedings of the United Nations General Assembly from its interim headquarters in Lake Success, New York.[28][29] They proved to be successful, and were honored with a [George Foster Peabody Award]] for Television News in 1949.[30]
In 1950, the name of the nightly newscast was changed to Douglas Edwards with the News, and the following year, it became the first news program to be broadcast on both coasts, thanks to a new coaxial cable connection, prompting Edwards to use the greeting "Good evening everyone, coast to coast." In 1962, the broadcast was renamed the CBS Evening News when Walter Cronkite replaced Edwards.[31] Edwards remained with CBS News, contributing to various daytime television newscasts and radio news broadcasts until his retirement on April 1, 1988.
From the 1990s until 2014, CBS News operated its own production unit CBS News Productions, to produce alternative programming for cable networks,[32] and CBS EyeToo Productions, later renamed CBS Eye Productions, a company that produced documentaries and nonfiction programs.[33]
In 2021, CBS News had set up its own production unit. See It Now Studios, which was headed by Susan Zirinsky.[34]
In 2022, CBS News hired former Trump administration official Mick Mulvaney as a paid on-air contributor.[35] Mulvaney's hiring stirred controversy within the company due to his history of promoting Donald Trump's false claims and attacking the press.[35] CBS News co-president Neeraj Khemlani told CBS morning show staff, "If you look at some of the people that we've been hiring on a contributor basis, being able to make sure that we are getting access to both sides of the aisle is a priority because we know the Republicans are going to take over, most likely, in the midterms".[35]
President Donald Trump sued CBS News over a "60 Minutes" interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris, alleging that the network engaged in election interference through deceptive editing.
The lawsuit, which seeks $10 billion in damages, claims that CBS violated the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act by airing two different edits of Harris' response to a question about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. As of February 6, 2025, CBS's parent company, Paramount Global, is reportedly considering settling the lawsuit ahead of a planned merger with Skydance Media, despite the network's initial statement that it would "vigorously defend" against the suit.
In 2025, Norah O'Donnell, who was based in the CBS News bureau in Washington, D.C., for over five years, departed, resulting in CBS Evening News to once again be broadcast from the CBS Broadcast Center's historic Studio 47 in New York City.[36]Face the Nation host and CBS News correspondent Margaret Brennan, however, continue to be based in Washington D.C.[36]
The information on programs listed in this section came directly from CBS News in interviews with the Vice President of Communications and NewsWatch Dallas.
According to the CBS News Library and source Sandy Genelius (Vice President, CBS News Communications), the "CBS Evening News" was the program title for both Saturday and Sunday evening broadcasts. The program title for the Sunday late night news beginning in 1963 was the "CBS Sunday Night News". These titles were also seen on the intro slide of the program's opening. The program airs on Saturday, and Sunday nights at 7:00p.m.–7:30p.m. UTC (Eastern Time) on CBS.
CBS News produces newscasts and features for radio stations through CBS News Radio, which is the oldest unit of CBS and tracings its roots to the company's founding in 1927, and the news division took shape over the decade that followed. The list of CBS News correspondents (below) includes those reporting on CBS News Radio.
CBS News Radio produces the oldest daily news show on radio or television, the CBS World News Roundup, which first aired in 1938; in 2018, it celebrated its 80th anniversary. The World News Roundup airs twice every weekday, broadcasting a morning edition anchored by Steve Kathan and produced by Paul Farry, and a late edition anchored by Dave Barrett and produced by James Hutton. The evening Roundup, previously known as The World Tonight, has aired in its current form since 1956, and has been anchored by Blair Clark, Douglas Edwards, Dallas Townsend, and Christopher Glenn, Glenn also anchored the morning Roundup prior to his death in 2006.
CBS Radio Network provides newscasts at the top of the hour, regular updates at :31 minutes past the hour, the popular Newsfeeds for affiliates, including WCBS in New York City and KYW in Philadelphia, at :35 minutes past the hour, and breaking news updates when developments warrant, often at :20 and :50 minutes past the hour. Skyview Networks handles the distribution.
CBS Newspath
CBS Newspath is CBS News' satellite news-gathering service, similar in format to CNN Newsource. Newspath provides national hard news, sports highlights, regional spot news, features and live coverage of major breaking news events for affiliate stations to use in their local news broadcasts. The service has a team of domestic and global correspondents and freelance reporters dedicated to reporting for affiliates, and offers several different national or international stories fronted by reporters on a daily basis. CBS Newspath also relies heavily on local affiliates sharing content. Stations will often contribute locally obtained footage that may be of national interest. It replaced a similar service, CBS News NewsNet.
In late 1999, the news-gathering arms of CBS (Newspath), ABC (NewsOne) and Fox (NewsEdge) agreed to form a joint-venture footage sharing pool, known as Network News Service.[60]
CBS News 24/7 is a 24-hour streaming news channel which launched on November 4, 2014, as CBSN.[61] At the time as CBSN, the channel features live news from 9a.m. to midnight on weekdays. The channel makes all of the resources of CBS News available directly on digital platforms with live, anchored coverage 15 hours each week. It is a first for a U.S. 24-hour news channel to forgo cable and be available exclusively only online and on smart devices such as smart TV's Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire and others.[62] The channel is based at CBS's New York City headquarters.[63]
The morning hours are typically anchored by Anne-Marie Green and Vladimir Duthiers, with afternoons anchored by a rotating team including Lilia Luciano, Tony Dokoupil, Errol Barnett, Lana Zak and Elaine Quijano. Various correspondents in Washington D.C. anchor a late-afternoon political program titled, 'America Decides' and John Dickerson anchors "The Daily Report", which airs Mondays through Thursdays.
In 2017, CBS News entered into a content-sharing agreement with BBC News, respectively replacing previous arrangements between the BBC and ABC News, and CBS and Sky News (which was partially controlled by 21st Century Fox until 2018 when ownership was then transferred to Comcast). The partnership includes the ability to share resources, footage, and reports, and conduct "efficient planning of news gathering resources to increase the content of each broadcaster's coverage of world events".[69]
Although they do not have an official partnership, CNN and CBS News share correspondents and contributors, including Anderson Cooper and Sanjay Gupta.[70]
In 2022, CBS News entered into a content-sharing partnership with The Weather Channel, where The Weather Channel meteorologists will appear on CBS News programs, and CBS News correspondents will appear during live coverage of weather events on The Weather Channel.
1 2 3 4 5 Dunning, John, On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio. New York: Oxford University Press, Inc., 1998 ISBN978-0-19-507678-3 hardcover; revised edition of Tune In Yesterday (1976)
↑ "The Origins of Television News in America" by Mike Conway. Chapter: "The Birth of CBS-TV News: Columbia's Ambitious Experiment at the Advent of U.S. Commercial Television". (Peter Lang Publishing, New York NY).
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