Latest news with #WendyMcMahon
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Week of May 19 Evening News Ratings: All 3 Newscasts Enjoy Week-to-Week Growth Ahead of Memorial Day
The period leading into the Memorial Day weekend saw positive viewership engagement. All three evening newscasts experienced ratings gains in total viewers and among Adults 25-54 for the week of May 19. NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt and the CBS Evening News both recorded double digit growth in the advertiser-coveted A25-54 demo. That trend was particularly encouraging for CBS News, which saw the departure of network president Wendy McMahon. Note: The weekly averages of ABC News, NBC News, and CBS News are based on four days (Monday – Thursday). Friday's (05/23/25) broadcasts were retitled due to the Memorial Day holiday weekend. The Friday broadcast of ABC World News Tonight was retitled to WNT-ABC, NBC Nightly News was retitled to NBC Nitely News, and CBS Evening News was retitled to CBS Evening Nws. These broadcasts are excluded from the weekly and season averages. According to live-plus-same-day data from Nielsen, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir averaged 7.179 million total viewers and 969,000 A25-54 viewers. ABC News' flagship newscast rose by +3% in the former category and +9% in the latter compared to the previous week. Looking at its performance alongside the same week in 2024 (the week beginning May 20), WNT was down -1% in total viewers and -3% in the demo. NBC Nightly News was the No. 2 newscast in total viewers and the demo, averaging 5.744 million and 872,000 viewers, respectively. Holt's penultimate week in the anchor's chair saw week-to-week gains of +5% in total viewers and +12% in the A25-54 demo. Year-to-year, Nightly News was flat in total viewers and up +8% in the demo. CBS Evening News saw 3.930 million total viewers and 555,000 A25-54 viewers for respective gains of +4% and +10% in those measured categories relative to the week prior. Year-to-year, the newscast was down -7% in total viewers and -12% in the demo. ABC NBC CBS • Total Viewers: 7,179,000 5,744,000 3,930,000 • A25-54: 969,000 872,000 555,000 Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49 Live + SD Current Week (w/o 5/19/25), Previous Week (w/o 5/12/25) and Year-Ago Week (w/o 5/20/24). Most Current Data Stream: 2024-2025 Season (9/23/24 – 5/25/25) and 2023-2024 Season (9/25/23 – 5/26/24). Nielsen ratings for ABC, NBC and CBS include additional airings in select markets. Beginning 8/31/20, national ratings also include Out of Home (OOH) viewing. Averages based on regular telecasts.
Axios
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Axios
Journalism under pressure amid fear of retribution
Executives at major media outlets are reportedly instructing their newsrooms to temper their coverage of President Trump and his administration amid growing fears of political retribution. Why it matters: President Trump may not have the political power to pass laws that hurt the press, but his threats of regulatory scrutiny and private lawsuits have proven just as damaging in silencing his critics. The abrupt resignations of CBS News chief Wendy McMahon and longtime "60 Minutes" executive producer Bill Owens underscore how fraught the relationship has become between CBS' news division and corporate parent Paramount, which is fighting for regulatory approval of a critical merger with Skydance Media. In her resignation note, McMahon said, "It's become clear that the company and I do not agree on the path forward." Owens told staff in his departure note, "Over the past months, it has become clear that I would not be allowed to run the show as I have always run it." Tension between management and CBS News' leadership has been boiling for months as CBS considers whether to settle a $20 billion lawsuit with President Trump. A settlement, onlookers believe, could clear the path for regulatory approval of Paramount's Skydance deal, but critics argue it risks the journalistic reputation of "60 Minutes." Trump in April lashed out at CBS following a "60 Minutes" episode, calling on FCC chair Brendan Carr to impose "maximum fines and punishment" on the network. PBS member WNET cut 90 seconds from a documentary last month, in which the film's subject, author and cartoonist Art Spiegelman criticized Trump, per The Atlantic. WNET vice president of programming Stephen Segaller told the New York Times the station did tell the filmmakers to make the change, saying some of the imagery was a "breach of taste." The move came shortly after PBS CEO Paula Kerger and NPR CEO Katherine Maher were called to testify in a congressional hearing to defend their congressional budgets. After the episode aired in April, President Trump signed an executive order on May 1 to cut federal funding for NPR and PBS. Disney CEO Bob Iger and ABC News president Almin Karamehmedovic reportedly suggested to the hosts of "The View" that they broaden the scope of their coverage to focus less on politics, per The Daily Beast. ABC paid $16 million in December to settle a case over comments made by anchor George Stephanopoulos. Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount, Gannett and a slew of major media companies have all announced rollbacks of their diversity, equity and inclusion policies to mirror the administration's new mandate on DEI. Representatives for CBS, WNET and ABC did not respond to requests for comment. Between the lines: Regulatory scrutiny mostly applies to broadcast companies that are regulated by the FCC or bigger firms that could be considering mergers that need regulatory approval. But smaller outlets owned by individuals with business interests outside of media have also moved to temper coverage in the second Trump administration. The Washington Post's owner Jeff Bezos announced a new policy in February in which the opinion section prioritizes two topics, personal liberties and free markets, and does not publish dissenting views in those areas. The Los Angeles Times witnessed an exodus of editors after the paper nixed endorsements in the eleventh hour of last year's election. The paper's owner, billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong, told Fox News that he doesn't want the outlet to "be an echo chamber" and said he aimed to bring more conservative or moderate columnists to appear in the paper. The outlet received heavy pushback from its news union after it introduced an AI-generated "bias meter" that automatically assesses the viewpoint of an article and offers an opposing perspective alongside it. Zoom out: For outlets with little to lose from a regulatory perspective, bullying and reduced access also pose a new threat. The White House in April said it would remove traditional press pool access for wire services after a court ordered it to lift its restrictions on the Associated Press. President Trump has suggested that media outlets be investigated for election fraud for posting unfavorable polls. (Of note: The president has cited polls from outlets that he has lashed out at that reflect favorable ratings.) The White House has said that it will ignore requests for comment from reporters with pronouns in their email signatures. The big picture: It's not just media, plenty of other industries are making preemptive concessions or buckling to political pressure.
Irish Times
25-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
`When the other three estates fail the Fourth Estate has to succeed'
A thread running through our coverage of different issues in different parts of the world this weekend is the threats the media faces externally and from within. Washington Correspondent Keith Duggan writes about George Clooney and his role as Edward R Murrow , the CBS anchor regarded as the most trusted man in 1950s America, in a New York play. Duggan writes the conceit of Clooney's Good Night, and Good Luck concerns Murrow's courageous stand against the bullying 'Red Scare' senator Joseph McCarthy despite mounting pressure from his network. Clooney was filmed outlining the theme of the play in a segment on 60 Minutes before opening night. READ MORE In this segment Clooney said 'when the other three estates fail – when the judiciary, the executive and the legislative branches fail us, the Fourth Estate (the media) has to succeed'. 'Has to succeed,' Clooney repeated. Last week saw the resignation of Wendy McMahon, the chief executive officer of CBS News, who cited her disenchantment with the network's position in relation to a lawsuit issued against it by Donald Trump. McMahon is the latest casualty in Donald Trump's long, slow war on mainstream media. The legal action concerns the US president's accusation that 60 Minutes, the flagship CBS current affairs show for six decades, edited a Kamala Harris interview to reflect favourably on her during the presidential election, Duggan writes. He notes it also represents the battle for control over the independence of US media for which the Clooney play provides a parallel. The Trump legal complaint states the CBS editing of the Harris interview was election interference and is demanding an astonishing $20 billion in compensation. Duggan writes that Paramount, the CBS parent company wishes to settle the Trump lawsuit even though CBS is adamant that it is without merit. The broader context is that Paramount is eager to complete an $8 billion merger with Skydance, for which it will require approval from the Trump-appointed chair of the Federal Communications Commission, Duggan notes. There have been other high profile US media departures. Bill Owens, the executive producer of 60 Minutes, resigned in April saying it 'has become clear that I would not be allowed to run the show as I have always run it'. Last December ABC News settled a lawsuit with Trump, then US president-elect, for $15 million. The Washington Post has seen high-profile resignations after its owner, Jeff Bezos, spiked the paper's planned endorsement of Kamala Harris. While Clooney says the Fouth Estate " has to succeed" , the question Duggan asks is 'can it?'. Another threat to the standing of the media is highlighted by Paul Kearns, an Irish-born freelance journalist based in Tel Aviv. With the humanitarian crisis in Gaza reaching ever-more shocking depths, Kearns says 'one question that is rarely answered is how ordinary Israelis feel about this and how much do they know about the imminent Israeli-induced famine on their doorstep?' He notes the war Irish people see in the media is not the war people living in Israel see. 'Israeli media – in particular the three mainstream news channels – simply do not show the most harrowing images that the rest of the world has been seeing for nearly 18 months of war.' He writes from Israel where he recently showed his friends in Israel a photo of a starving baby in Gaza and asked them had seen the photograph of six-month-old Siwar Ashour who was being treated for malnutrition at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis in Gaza? 'Not one of them could recall seeing any images of emaciated children on Israeli television news.' Kearns says the gap between how mainstream media inside and outside Israel report on what is happening in Gaza has widened in recent months. This has seen the coverage move from 'understandable differences of polarised political opinion' into what he describes as a 'chasm of counterfactual storytelling'. With just one, notable exception, the left-leaning Haaretz newspaper , the media in both Hebrew and English is failing ordinary Israelis, according to Kearns. 'I have little doubt that history will not be kind to how Israeli news channels met their responsibilities to show the truth of what the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is doing and has done in Gaza in the name of all Israelis. 'I also do not doubt that Israeli children will be asking their parents in the years ahead some variation of the question I asked: what did they know or not know about the Israeli-induced starvation in Gaza,' he writes. Five Key Reads As the Michael Gaine investigation continues, with a man being released without charge this week, Barry Roche reports from Kenmare where people ask why a farmyard slurry tank was not searched properly, and how the farmer's remains were not found earlier. Conor Gallagher's investigation on the links between lawyers in Ireland and Putin's soft-power agency. The reporting finds the Russian leader set up Pravfond with the stated goal of protecting the rights of Russians abroad. David McWilliams writes about how Ireland's economy is showing worrying signs. He writes: 'As the country goes full throttle and rents hit all-time highs, it's clear the economy is overheating. It may be time to chill.' Eoin Burke-Kennedy writes about Ireland's enduring failure: the housing crisis. Burke-Kennedy says that year after year, despite policy after policy, the problem always remains the same. Kneecap have made the headlines this week after Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, who performs as Mo Chara, was charged on terrorism offences. Siobhán Reynolds was at the group's Friday night gig in south London where the band member told a crowd of 20,000 'you have no idea how close we were to being pulled off this gig'. In this week's On the Money newsletter, Dominic writes about what your options are if you want to release wealth tied up in your home? Sign up here to receive the newsletter straight to your inbox every Friday. As always, there is much more on , including rundowns of all the latest movies in our film reviews , tips for the best restaurants in our food section and all the latest in sport . There are plenty more articles exclusively available for Irish Times subscribers here . We value your views. Please feel free to send comments, feedback or suggestions for topics you would like to see covered to feedback@ .
Washington Post
22-05-2025
- Business
- Washington Post
CBS News staffers see leader's departure as a sign of Trump settlement
Before the resignation of their top boss this week, CBS News staffers had already been bracing themselves for their network to settle the $20 billion lawsuit filed by President Donald Trump over the network's editing of a '60 Minutes' interview with Kamala Harris. In April, CBS's parent company, Paramount, began mediation with Trump's representatives, even as some of the network's leaders internally opposed a deal, which controlling shareholder Shari Redstone had urged. Paramount is seeking government approval to merge with another entertainment conglomerate, SkyDance Media, and a settlement is seen internally as a way to ease that process. On Monday morning, one of the leaders who has opposed a deal, Wendy McMahon, abruptly announced her resignation from the company, telling employees that she and corporate management 'do not agree on the path forward.' Now many staffers at the network are viewing McMahon's departure as further proof that a settlement is imminent, particularly coming after the resignation last month of '60 Minutes' executive producer Bill Owens, who also opposed a deal. 'As soon as it was announced that Wendy was leaving, the general mood was, 'Okay, this settlement is much closer than we thought,'' said a network staffer who, like the others who spoke with The Washington Post for this story, did so on the condition of anonymity because they are not authorized by CBS News to comment. 'It really felt like she was another scalp following Bill Owens and maybe that is something that would appease Trump and his negotiators.' 'It's getting rid of the people … pushing against a settlement to ease the process,' said one producer at the network. McMahon's tenure as president and CEO of CBS News and Stations was not without blemishes. Under her watch, the network retooled its evening news show in late January to de-emphasize shorter news updates in favor of longer enterprise segments; rather than winning new viewers, the show has lost more of them. While many staffers at the network oppose a settlement with Trump, there's a broad expectation that it will happen. 'We understand that a settlement will be made,' the first CBS News staffer said. 'We also understand that an apology [to Trump] is likely. We also understand that in doing so, CBS News will be very badly damaged.' 'People feel weird about it and don't think we should be capitulating to any administration like that,' said a third network staffer. CBS employee Stephen Colbert, the host of the network's late-night show, on Tuesday night poked fun at Paramount, 'his beloved parent conglomerate,' about a potential settlement. 'Ladies and gentlemen, I am a proud company man,' he said. 'I love who I work for, and I will stand up against these scurrilous accusations that Paramount is engaged in corporate and political malfeasance. For the low price of $50 million.' A Paramount spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment about whether McMahon's departure affects the settlement discussions. In February, Redstone told Paramount's board of directors that she supports a settlement — though her personal spokesperson told The Post she has recused herself from those discussions. That hasn't stopped several senators who have urged Redstone against a settlement. On Monday, Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts), Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) and Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) sent a letter to Redstone cautioning Paramount against any action that could constitute bribery — namely, handing over millions of dollars to the president in exchange for the approval of a merger. 'If Paramount officials make these concessions in a quid pro quo arrangement to influence President Trump or other Administration officials, they may be breaking the law,' wrote the senators, who also questioned whether Paramount's shareholders could sue the company over a deal. But neither internal opposition nor howls of protest from Capitol Hill seem likely to deter a deal, even though there is no guarantee that a settlement would ensure approval of the deal by the Federal Communications Commission. In December, Disney-owned ABC settled a lawsuit filed by Trump for $16 million — but the president continues to inveigh against the network on social media, and his handpicked FCC chair, Brendan Carr, has opened an investigation into the company's diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) practices. In the event of a settlement, some CBS News staffers may opt to leave the network in protest. But it's an extremely challenging market for TV jobs, at a time when many networks are contracting. 'Not everybody has the luxury of walking away,' said Rene Syler, who spent four years co-hosting a morning show for CBS News. 'It's easy sometimes to stand on principle when that principle is resting on a pile of cash.' One person who has discouraged CBS journalists from quitting in protest is '60 Minutes' correspondent Scott Pelley, who called out Paramount on air last month for encroaching on the show's work as it 'is trying to complete a merger.' Pelley, according to two sources with knowledge of the situation who were not authorized to comment, argued to colleagues that the show's mission is too important to leave.
ABC News
22-05-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
NPR's CEO on President Trump's war on media
In yet another significant development in the American media landscape, CBS News CEO Wendy McMahon announced this week that she'll resign after four years in the top job. This is the latest fallout at the network as its parent company considers settling a lawsuit with President Donald Trump over a "60 Minutes" interview with former Democratic Presidential candidate Kamala Harris. It comes as the Trump administration has been battling with the media over several fronts, including trying to ban AP journalists from covering the White House, shutting down government-run news services like the Voice of America, and now cutting funding to public broadcasting. Guest: Katherine Maher, President and CEO of NPR – the US' National Public Radio Producer: Teodora Agarici
