Near the end of October, news producer Trey Sherman posted a video to his TikTok account detailing his experience being laid off from CBS. Sherman alleged white staffers were being relocated to new positions in the company while staff of color were being terminated.
The CBS layoffs symbolize continued attacks on diversity, and the newsroom is one place where diversity should be most protected.
Despite the layoffs at CBS happening recently and quickly, they are a culmination of changes in ownership and leadership at CBS that have happened over the last few months.
In August, the FCC, led by Trump-appointed Brendan Carr, approved a merger between the parent company of CBS, Paramount, and Skydance. The approval came after Paramount settled a lawsuit with President Donald Trump by paying him $16 million. The lawsuit from the president was based on a “60 Minutes” interview with Kamala Harris that he claimed was deceptively edited.
In October, Paramount paid Bari Weiss $150 million to acquire her news outlet, “The Free Press.” Weiss was then appointed as the new Editor in Chief of CBS News. Weiss describes herself as anti-woke, anti-DEI, and a Zionist.
UI associate professor Brett Johnson acknowledges that finding an editor who has no biases is impossible, as they would have to be robotic. However, he feels that having an editor who displays such strong and open opinions may result in a “tipping of the scale” in terms of fairness and objectivity.
On the other hand, UI professor Venise Berry isn’t surprised by the hiring of someone as divisive as Weiss. Berry said the days of Walter Cronkite and hard-nosed objective journalism have faded and are being replaced by commentators offering opinions on news.
One of Weiss’s first actions was sending a memo out, similar to DOGE, asking CBS staff members to send an email describing what they do on an average day. Near the end of the month, mass layoffs occurred as Paramount laid off over 2000 employees, including people at CBS.
This was the same set of layoffs that affected Trey Sherman and his teammates who were a part of the now eliminated race and culture unit.
“[The news is supposed to] paint a representation of society,” Johnson said. “For some news entities that requires a special desk.”
Losing specialized desks is not only a loss of jobs, but also a loss in reporting on specific beats.
Johnson, whose research focuses on media law, said a discrimination lawsuit would be difficult to win as Sherman would have to prove Weiss was directly ordered to lay off diverse staff members.
“News entities under the first amendment have a lot of discretion,” Johnson said.
It is no secret layoffs have been happening all across the job market and news outlets are not exempt as most have been struggling financially for years.
Despite the financial struggles of CBS, the hiring of Weiss has led to the news network paying for a security detail for her that has cost the company $10,000 per day. For reference, a security detail for an editor in chief is considered unprecedented.
Layoffs that target diverse voices are happening at not just CBS, but other outlets like NBC and Vogue. The public should be concerned regarding the quality of reporting and the story selection that we will see. The news has long had issues with diversity in the newsroom as well as retaining staff and now we’re seeing those two issues coincide.
“All of us are going to suffer because our news is going to suffer,” Berry said. “[Information] is going to become much more limited.”
These layoffs represent one of the countless threats to journalism on the rise. In a time where there is constant news surrounding our government, rampant disinformation, rising racism and AI misinformation, it is imperative for society to start respecting and valuing journalists again, especially those from diverse backgrounds, who cover a wide range of pertinent stories.