CBS News CEO Wendy McMahon announced Monday that she is resigning, the latest blow to the embattled network as it grapples with internal unrest, accusations of anti-Israel bias in its coverage, and a $20 billion lawsuit from President Donald Trump.
“It’s become clear that the company and I do not agree on the path forward,” McMahon wrote in a memo to staffers. “It’s time for me to move on and for this organization to move forward with new leadership.”
McMahon’s resignation comes during a tumultuous period for CBS.
The network entered talks last month to settle Trump’s $20 billion lawsuit, which accuses 60 Minutes of deceptively editing a 2024 interview with then-presidential candidate Kamala Harris to boost her campaign. An unedited transcript of the interview has confirmed that several of Harris’s lengthy, rambling responses—particularly on Israel—were heavily condensed. The show’s longtime executive producer, Bill Owens, abruptly resigned last month, criticizing CBS’s parent company, Paramount.
Meanwhile, CBS controlling shareholder Shari Redstone has voiced her dissatisfaction with the network’s anti-Israel coverage. CBS faced scrutiny in particular for a January 60 Minutes segment that criticized Israel’s war against Hamas terrorists and relied on sources affiliated with the Council on American-Islamic Relations, whose executive director has openly praised Hamas.
CBS also faced backlash last fall after McMahon and then-editorial chief Adrienne Roark reprimanded anchor Tony Dokoupil for challenging guest Ta-Nehisi Coates’s criticisms of Israel. Redstone defended Dokoupil, calling McMahon and Roark’s reprimand a “bad mistake” and praising the anchor for modeling “what civil discourse is.”
Redstone supported McMahon’s ouster, a source told the New York Post.
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