Overview
- An internal HR email offered CBS Evening News non-union employees a one-time voluntary buyout described as an “extraordinary chance to leave,” with initial expressions of interest due by Feb. 2 and final decisions due by Feb. 9, according to reporting.
- The move follows a staff town hall where editor-in-chief Bari Weiss urged a shift away from broadcast-dependent strategies toward a startup-style, streaming and social-first model.
- Weiss has added a slate of paid contributors, including Niall Ferguson, Andrew Huberman and H.R. McMaster, signaling a broader retooling of CBS News programming.
- Executive producer Kim Harvey and anchor Tony Dokoupil have pushed back on cuts to the Evening News team, even as some staffers voiced job-security concerns in the town hall.
- Early ratings for Dokoupil have ticked up from the program’s recent lows, though overall viewership remains down year over year, with the overhaul unfolding under Paramount Skydance cost pressures.