Report: How CBS bosses are dealing with tanking Evening News revamp
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CBS is staying the course with its widely ridiculed dual-anchor 'Evening News' setup - despite slumping ratings. The development, confirmed by two people 'close to the show' comes four months after Maurice DuBois and John Dickerson stepped in for Norah O'Donnell. The insiders shared the details to The LA Times, days after new Nielsen numbers showed CBS Evenings is only scoring 3.637 million total viewers - down five percent from the week before and 14 percent for the year.
In terms of the important 25-54 demo, the drop-off was even worse, with 482,000 viewers representing declines of 9 percent and 22 percent for those two timeframes. Moreover, much of the bleeding has been seen since February, when a former CBS News exec framed the approach as 'a disaster' in comments to DailyMail.com. Months later, the sources who spoke to The Times said management continues to support the approach - and that there are no planned changes.
People who man the broadcast but were not authorized to speak on the matter added the show has already moved to shorter pieces, after the re-imagining's longer-form, more magazine-style stories fell flat. Producers are now expected to get more notes from Tom Cibrowski, the network's new president, in coming days, sources said - a little over a month after the former ABC exec was tapped to helm the embattled station. The Times piece notes how Cibrowski's old employer - the subject of a since-settled defamation suit filed by Donald Trump - is more devoted to curating content that's viewer-friendly rather than timey and poignant.
Seemingly at odds with this approach are those helming the eye network's other top news show, 60 Minutes - currently the subject of a separate suit from the president that remains ongoing. Since Trump's suit was filed last fall, the show has remained persistent in its coverage of his administration and its policies. Last Sunday, longtime correspondent Scott Pelley used the once-prestigious platform to report on Trump's recent use of executive orders to hone in on law firms whom he's accused of 'weaponizing' the justice system.
The segment came days after Paramount Global controlling shareholder Shari Redstone reportedly asked CBS execs to delay airing sensitive stories surrounding the president in April, and it took a decidedly critical tone. Redstone, the daughter of Sumner Redstone, was said to have asked execs to refrain until after a planned merger with Skydance Media goes through. Pelley appeared to complain to viewers about this dynamic in late April, days after the sudden, scornful resignation of longtime Executive Producer Bill Owens - the same man said to have been behind the visibly 60 Minutes-esque revamp of CBS Evenings.
The longtime 60 Minutes boss was enlisted to help oversee Evening News last summer by Wendy McMahon, the CBS News and Stations CEO said to be next on the chopping block , Puck first reported following disastrous ratings seen in February. It has also spawned a ratings slump that has raised alarm bells across the industry. 'I would say it's a five-alarm fire,' a veteran television news exec further told Status on about ratings O'Donnell's replacements garnered in its initial days that have only worsened. 'It's mind boggling,' a veteran producer who spent a decade at the network further added of the strategy. 'They took the "news" out of the "Evening News!" It's not surprising the audience is leaving.'
'It's a disaster,' a former CBS News exec told DailyMail.com at the time. 'It's been critically panned, ratings down week by week and from this time last year,' 'Owens is also overstretched and feeling the pressure with this lawsuit from Donald Trump,' the insider said, just weeks before the exec's abrupt exit . Statistics released by Nielsen during the first week of Owens and McMahon's experiment supported those theories - with total viewership down 14 percent year-over-year. The numbers released last week showed no improvement, after the former exec emphatically told DailyMail.com: 'The experiment is failing.'
The 'veteran' television exec who spoke to Status said more of the same, asking incredulously, 'Why did McMahon and Owens decide to try to reinvent the "Evening News" in this challenging moment? 'Any excuse you give the audience to change their habit is a massive risk.' Owens, 58, announced he is leaving 60 Minutes on April 22, saying he was 'losing his journalistic independence.' 'So, having defended this show - and what we stand for - from every angle, over time with everything I could,' he wrote to staffers in a memo that was leaked to the New York Times. 'I am stepping aside so the show can move forward.'
Owens - a respected figure who recently helped overhaul CBS's Evening News - went on to promise that '60 Minutes will continue to cover the new administration,' calling it 'too important to the country.' He had been the executive producer of the CBS newsmagazine since 2019 - the third-ever to hold the distinction. He added during a separate '60 Minutes' staff meeting attended by the show's top team members: 'It's clear the company is done with me.'
Pelley, in the next 60 Minutes show to air after Owens' ouster, complained that journalists had been facing increased corporate oversight. The pending sale of parent company Paramount Global to Skydance Media requires federal approval, hence the CBS parent's hesitance to enter a legal war with the president. On Wednesday, Paramount co-Chief Executive George Cheeks sought to rally his stations' reporters in CBS's newsroom, reportedly telling them, 'This is an unprecedented, challenging time for the industry... and for our company in particular.'
'For me, what's most important as a leader is how you show up in a difficult time,' he continued. 'My biggest goal is to make sure that the team feels supported and that we recognize that we have to focus on what we can control.' 'We're going to get through this,' he went on to insist, promising to protect his 'entire team.' McMahon, meanwhile, will likely be forced out before the Skydance deal goes through, sources familiar with the talks told Puck.
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