Exclusive | CBS News boss preps ‘Evening News’ – Business News
The president of CBS News making ready for a sharp-elbowed shakeup of the community’s struggling “Evening News” broadcast — at the same time as his own job seems to be in jeopardy, The Post has discovered.
Tom Cibrowski — a former high government at ABC who was lured to CBS in March — is poised as quickly as this week to get rid of one of the nightly broadcast’s two anchors, both John Dickerson or Maurice DuBois, sources stated.
At the identical time, insiders stated Cibrowski appears able to oust “Evening News” government producer Guy Campanile — a gruff Yonkers native and veteran of “60 Minutes” who recently has locked horns together with his new boss, in accordance with sources.
Tom Cibrowski — a former high government at ABC who was lured to CBS in March — is poised as quickly as this week to get rid of one of the nightly broadcast’s two anchors Getty Images
“Guy thinks he knows better than Tom” — and should quickly get kicked back to “60 Minutes” beneath the show’s newly put in government producer, Tanya Simon, one source stated.
Insiders stated Cibrowski seems to creating a play to keep his job with a sequence of daring, Eleventh-hour strikes as CBS father or mother Paramount closes its merger with the Hollywood studio Skydance. They added, nevertheless, that Cibrowski might merely finish up as a hatchet man for incoming bosses — earlier than he ends up a casualty himself.
As beforehand reported by The Post, Cibrowski has additionally gotten static from “CBS Mornings” government producer Shawna Thomas — a close ally of community star Gayle King — and her job may very well be on the road, too, insiders informed The Post.
CBS News declined to remark.
As reported by The Post, Jeff Shell, the new president of the merged Skydance-Paramount, stated final week that he was interviewing information executives for Cibrowski’s job. That comes after rumors that Skydance CEO David Ellison is in talks with journalist Bari Weiss, in addition to former CBS News president David Rhodes, to hitch the community.
At the “Evening News,” insiders stated DuBois regarded poised to land the only anchor spot. A former WCBS New York native anchor, sources stated Dubois has appeared better-suited for the job than Dickerson, who is best recognized for his political reporting chops.
John Dickerson or Maurice DuBois may very well be on the chopping block, in accordance with sources. Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP
The co-hosts have “lacked chemistry” and appeared out of their depth protecting worldwide information such because the death of Pope Francis. But one high-level exec blamed poor scores on a management vacuum.
“There’s a lack of support, a lack of focus and differing perspectives on what the show should be,” the particular person stated, including that the “insecurity and lack of confidence shows up on the screen.”
A key concern has been the April exit of longtime “60 Minutes” government producer Bill Owens — who on his manner out aired gripes concerning the show’s editorial independence as Paramount confronted a lawsuit from President Trump over the show’s modifying of an interview with Kamala Harris.
Maurice DuBois with Norah O’Donnell. CBS
Before his exit, Owens had been tapped by then-CBS News President Wendy McMahon to revamp the “Evening News”. He assigned Campanile to emphasise longer, “60 Minutes”-style options. The strategy flopped amid the rapid-fire information cycles of the early Trump administration.
Nevertheless, Campanile — who insiders stated is predicted to get replaced by “Evening News” senior producer Kim Harvey — has continued to crank out the options regardless of Cibrowski’s calls for for more straight information, sources stated.
“Now, the show and the team feel rudderless. If you’re going to do something different, you need to do it with confidence and assurance and this team has none of that,” the source stated. “They are alone. They feel it and the viewers feel it.”
Rumors are swirling that Skydance CEO David Ellison is in talks with journalist Bari Weiss, in addition to former CBS News president David Rhodes, to hitch the community. CBS by way of Getty Images
The source pointed to “an idiotic” July 31 piece on the rise in recognition of astrology – a phase that took up a valuable 3 minutes – on a newsy day crammed with headlines on President Trump’s commerce tariffs and lethal flash floods in Texas.
“That was Guy’s arrogance,” a CBS insider stated of the astrology report. “The only people who think the show is journalistically great is Guy and the senior producers.”
Feathers likewise acquired ruffled by an “insulting gift” that Owens and Campanile had given Cibrowski upon his spring arrival — a “Bible of Broadcasting” that was a primer on CBS storytelling and what makes it distinctive versus the competitors.
Inside the halls of Tiffany Network, the “Evening News” has been ripped for “how unwatchable it is,” a CBS source stated. Christopher Sadowski
Cibrowski — who spent 30 years at top-ranked ABC News the place he oversaw exhibits together with “Good Morning America,” “World News Tonight,” “Nightline” and “20/20” — discovered the reward “ridiculous,” a third source stated.
Inside the halls of Tiffany Network, the “Evening News” has been ripped for “how unwatchable it is,” a CBS source stated. One former exec was flummoxed by McMahon and Owens’ resolution to make use of two anchors, calling it a “two-headed monstrosity.”
Relaunched beneath McMahon, who ousted then-anchor Norah O’Donnell, the “Evening News” scores final yr had hovered between 4.5 million and 5 million viewers. After DuBois and Dickerson took over in January, scores have recurrently slumped under 4 million whole viewers.
