CBS News and Stations President Resigns
In a move sending shockwaves through the media world, CBS News and Stations President Wendy McMahon announced her resignation on Monday, citing fundamental disagreements with the direction of the company.
The abrupt departure comes at a pivotal moment for CBS’s parent company, Paramount Global, which is entangled in a massive $20 billion lawsuit brought by former President Donald Trump over alleged deceptive editing by 60 Minutes.
McMahon, a respected executive who took the reins in August 2023, described her time at CBS as “a privilege and joy,” but admitted that “recent months have been challenging.” Those challenges appear to stem from mounting pressure within Paramount to settle Trump’s lawsuit—a move driven in part by Paramount chair Shari Redstone’s ambitions to secure Trump administration approval for a proposed merger with Skydance Media.
At the heart of the legal storm is a 60 Minutes interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris, which Trump’s legal team claims was manipulated to cover up a damaging answer during her campaign.
The fallout has strained relationships within the upper echelons of CBS, where McMahon reportedly aligned herself with longtime 60 Minutes executive producer Bill Owens. Owens himself stepped down last month, frustrated by what he saw as an erosion of editorial autonomy.
McMahon’s defense of editorial independence appeared increasingly out of sync with Paramount’s strategic calculations. According to reports, Redstone had already clashed with CBS News leadership in a separate controversy—one involving anchor Tony Dokoupil, who faced internal reprimand for deviating from the pre-approved script during a contentious interview with activist Ta-Nehisi Coates. Redstone publicly criticized the network’s handling of that situation, calling the disciplinary move against Dokoupil “a mistake.”
“It’s become clear that the company and I do not agree on the path forward,” McMahon stated in her resignation memo. “It’s time for me to move on and for this organization to move forward with new leadership.”
That new leadership arrives in the form of Tom Cibrowski and Jennifer Mitchell. Cibrowski, a veteran of ABC News with three decades of experience, will be joined by Mitchell, who currently oversees operations for 27 CBS-owned stations across 17 markets. The two are expected to guide CBS News through the transition as the network navigates legal landmines and political crosscurrents in a rapidly shifting media landscape.
McMahon will remain in her role for a few more weeks to assist with the transition, but her exit marks a stark shift in the power dynamics within CBS. As Paramount inches toward settling its headline-making lawsuit and pursues a potentially transformative merger, the departure of McMahon signals a hard pivot—away from newsroom independence and toward a more cautious, calculated strategy shaped by corporate survival and political pragmatism.