CBS News Changes Up Leadership, Names New President

The CBS logo is seen at the CBS Building in New York City on Aug. 6, 2018. (Angela Weiss/AFP/Getty Images)

CBS made new leadership appointments on Monday after Neeraj Khemlani stepped down from his post as CBS News and Stations president on Sunday.

Wendy McMahon, who co-led the news division with Mr. Khemlani, will take on the position with singular oversight as well as additional roles. She was named president and CEO of CBS News and Stations, and the syndication-focused CBS Media Ventures on Monday, and will oversee all of CBS News’ broadcast and streaming operations, 27 local television stations, 14 local news streaming channels, and domestic syndication businesses.

Steve LoCascio, who has been with CBS for 34 years, announced on Monday his plans to retire from his position as president of CBS Media Ventures when his contract expires.

“If you had asked me when I started as controller of King World in 1989 what would the television business look like 30-plus years from then, I would never have guessed that Wheel Of Fortune and Jeopardy! would be the top two most-watched series on broadcast television (or that we’d even have to specify broadcast television) or that Oprah would have retired before me, and we’d find a new generational daytime voice in Drew Barrymore, whom the LA Times dubbed the ‘millennial Oprah,’” he wrote in a staff memo on Monday.

On Sunday, Mr. Khemlani stepped down from the post of president after only just over two years. In a memo to staffers, Mr. Khemlani wrote, “I have some news to share today, and I don’t want to bury the lede ... After an exhilarating run, and before the next season starts, I’ve decided to step back from my current role and start a new exciting chapter.”

Mr. Khemlani will remain at CBS to develop content including documentaries, series, and books for Simon & Schuster.

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Ms. McMahon will oversee programming including 60 Minutes, Face the Nation, CBS Mornings, Jeopardy! Wheel of Fortune, and Inside Edition. She had overseen News and Stations with Mr. Khemlani for more than two years and expanded local news coverage. According to CBS, local streaming is up 61 percent in viewership from 2022 to 2023, the highest numbers to date.

Ingrid Ciprian-Matthews was appointed president of CBS News, and will now have top editorial oversight over “CBS News programs, bureaus, global newsgathering, streaming and digital editorial, as well as standards and practices, special events, politics, elections and surveys, social, the race and culture unit and CBS News Radio.”

Ms. Ciprian-Matthews had been with CBS for 30 years and was serving as the executive vice president for newsgathering. She had served as Washington bureau chief, overseen presidential election coverage, and recruited journalists for CBS. She has held several leadership positions including vice president of news, executive vice president for CBS News, and executive vice president of strategic professional development.

Network Shakeups

Executive exits and large lawsuits have shaken other networks recently as well, particularly CNN and Fox News.

CNN fired CEO Chris Licht this year after only 13 months on the job, amid tanking ratings.

On Monday, the network announced its new programming lineup as part of its overhaul strategy, as its primetime lineup has seen several changes since 2021. Specific dates for the new show launches have not yet been released.

Senior political correspondent and anchor of Inside Politics Sunday Abby Phillip will anchor a new primetime show, CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip, at 10 p.m., followed by Laura Coates Live at 11 p.m. with the network’s chief legal analyst. Later in the fall, Gayle King and Charles Barkley will debut a limited series, King Charles, set to run 9 p.m. Wednesdays.

Political correspondent Kasie Hunt, who covered the last three presidential elections, will anchor the 5 a.m. Early Start, and Poppy Harlow will have Phil Mattingly on to co-anchor CNN This Morning. The network is also launching a new show out of Washington for the election season, The Bulletin with Pamela Brown.

Fox announced Aug. 11 that Chief Legal Officer Viet Dinh is stepping down from his position at the end of this year and will take a special adviser post.

The announcement did not name a successor or reason, but Fox Corporation was hit with a $787.5 million settlement earlier this year after Dominion Voting Systems sued alleging Fox News covered the 2020 presidential elections deceptively. Smartmantic, another elections technology, has also sued Fox to the tune of $2.7 billion.

In April, the network canceled its primetime show Tucker Carlson Tonight, leaving a crater in ratings that has only recently recovered. The network has stated that the cancellation had nothing to do with the Dominion settlement as some have speculated. In June, the network announced its new primetime lineup.