Susan Zirinsky is once again being asked to help polish up CBS News.
The veteran producer, who served as the unit’s president from early 2019 to the end of 2021, has been asked to return to CBS News as an interim “executive editor,” and will oversee standards, helping to vet stories and journalistic practices. Like many other news operations, CBS News has long had personnel who monitored internal practices and ethics. But there seems to be a desire to make such efforts more a part of the senior suite after controversies surfaced last year at the Paramount Global operation tied to incidents at “60 Minutes” and “CBS Mornings.”
“In today’s fast-moving news environment, it is critical for newsrooms to quickly and effectively deliver balanced, accurate, fair and timely reporting, including highly complex, sensitive issues like the war in the Middle East,” said George Cheeks, co-CEO of Paramount Global, in a memo sent to CBS News staffers Monday night. “CBS News takes this responsibility seriously. While there is no way to cover such sensitive issues without provoking some degree of criticism, we have a responsibility to address those concerns. This includes feedback regarding perceived bias in some CBS News coverage. We cannot let this negatively affect our legacy or our future, our mission or our connection to our viewers.”
Zirinsky will fill the role while Wendy McMahon, the Paramount Global executive who oversees CBS News, searches for person to fill the role permanently. The executive editor, said Cheeks, will have “the specific mandate of ensuring we have the expertise, resources and oversight to enable coverage of the most challenging issues with the highest degree of balance and integrity. Standards will report into this new position.”
The move takes place as Paramount Global moves to be acquired by Skydance Media, and there is no doubt concern any tangles in court with soon-to-be President Trump might have an effect on how regulators vet the proposed transaction.
Zirinsky, a longtime senior producer who led the newsmagazine “48 Hours” and was involved in special coverage and some celebrated documentaries, took the role of president of CBS News in 2019. At that time, the news division was under scrutiny after claims of harassment were levelled against “CBS This Morning” co-anchor Charlie Rose as well as Jeff Fager, the former executive producer of “60 Minutes.”
More recently, she has led See It Now Studios, a production unit devoted to special projects and documentary programs. She is expected to continue in that role.
CBS News has grappled with backlash to its coverage in recent months.In November, then-candidate Donald Trump sued CBS News for $10 billion in federal court in the Northern District of Texas, claiming an interview between “60 Minutes” and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris , then his opponent, had been edited deceptively.
At issue was a segment of the interview made available to the CBS News program “Face The Nation,” which airs Sunday mornings, as a promotional teaser for what would appear later in the week on a special broadcast of the newsmagazine. The promotional segment used a longer section of Harris’ response than the interview that appeared on “60 Minutes,” which was edited to give viewers a sense of Harris’ views on a wider variety of subjects.
CBS has moved to have the case dismissed.
CBS was embroiled in another imbroglio in October when Tony Dokoupil, one of the co-anchors of “CBS Mornings,” grilled author Ta-Nehisi Coates on whether his writing expressed antipathy toward Israel. On October 7, the anniversary of Hamas’ attack on Israel in 2023, CBS News executives told staffers that Dokoupil’s report failed to meet the network’s standards. The move generated pushback from advocacy organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League, and even Shari Redstone, the controlling shareholder of Paramount Global.
On Monday, Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, took issue with a “60 Minutes” segment broadcast Sunday that examined opposition by former State Department officials to the Biden administration supporting Israel’s push against Hamas. Greenblatt called the segment “a biased and one-sided piece” in a statement, noting that “Even before this, CBS had a recent history of insensitivity on Jewish issues that was incredibly problematic.”
