Across the long nights when Edward R. Murrow stood alone on the rooftops of London while the Luftwaffe’s bombs exploded all around him, CBS Radio managed to survive World War II.
But they couldn’t survive Bari Weiss.
The new CBS editor-in-chief has ordered what she’s terming a mercy killing – the end of CBS Radio – while others see more sinister motives behind the death knell.
So, we bid farewell to one of the most storied media outlets in history. On Friday, March 20, Weiss announced more than 60 jobs – about 6% of its news division – are to be eliminated.
That includes all of CBS News Radio, the division started in 1927 that first brought such legendary broadcast names as Murrow, Eric Sevareid, William L. Shirer, Charles Collingwood, Howard K. Smith, Larry LeSeur, Winston Burdett, Richard C. Hottelet and others into America’s living rooms through the darkest times of World War II.
Back then, they were inventing a new way of telling stories for a new medium.
As Tom Cibrowski, president of CBS News, wrote in a memo reported by the New York Times, “CBS Radio served as the foundation for everything we have built since 1927,” when the company started its way to becoming known as The Tiffany Network.
As The Times first reported, Weiss told a newsroom-wide conference call on Friday, “Certain parts of this newsroom need to get smaller in order for us to make room for the things that we need to build to remain competitive in the future.”
In a memo to staffers, Weiss wrote, “It’s no secret that the news business is changing radically, and that we need to change along with it. New audiences are burgeoning in new places, and we are pressing forward with ambitious plans to grow and invest so that we can be there for them.”
The cuts are nothing new. Last year, CBS laid off about 100 employees from its combined news divisions.
The billionaire technology heir David Ellison entered the picture after President Trump filed a $16 million lawsuit against CBS and “60 Minutes.” Ellison is a major donor and close friend of Trump.
Saying he wanted CBS to be more “centrist,” Ellison hired Weiss, a critic of mainstream media, six months ago.
Weiss has been accused, as the Times phrased it, “of hewing to a more Trump-friendly editorial approach, especially after she postponed a “60 Minutes” segment that was critical of the Trump administration’s deporting Venezuelan migrants to a harsh Salvadorean prison.
Donald Trump’s allies will now have control of CBS, Fox News, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Post, and nearly 200 local TV stations.
But they won’t have CBS Radio to kick around anymore.
As Edward R. Murrow used to sign out of his radio and TV broadcasts, from now on at CBS Radio, it’s, “Good night, and good luck.”
A former Baltimore Sun columnist and WJZ-TV commentator, Michael Olesker is the author of six books, including “Journeys to the Heart of Baltimore” (Johns Hopkins University Press) and “Michael Olesker’s Baltimore: If You Live Here, You’re Home” (Johns Hopkins University).
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