CBS Proposes Attractive Buyout Packages to ‘Evening News’ Team

CBS News is extending appealing buyout offers to its ‘Evening News’ team as part of a strategic overhaul led by Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss.

According to reports from the New York Post, non-union employees received notice of these attractive buyouts via email on Tuesday, just a day after Weiss presented her strategic vision for CBS News during a town hall meeting.

The email reportedly stated, “We are offering an extraordinary chance to leave CBS News with an enhanced separation payment,” as highlighted by the Post.

The message continued, “During yesterday’s All-Hands meeting, Bari outlined a new direction for CBS News that diverges from our current path. The Evening News has a new host and a new mission, and additional changes are on the horizon.”

The email concluded with, “While we hope you are enthusiastic about this vision, we recognize that some may not be, and we want to offer our support to those individuals.”

It is unclear how many staffers received the email, but most members of CBS News’ editorial ranks, including producers, are not covered by union contracts, according to Variety. 

They now have until Monday to agree to the buyout, after which the company will provide financial terms of the buyout offer for staff members to consider by February 4 at 8pm.

Employees will then have until February 9 at 8pm, to accept the offer and resign. 

Ununionized employees at CBS ‘Evening News,’ which is now anchored by Tony Dokoupil (pictured), were offered lucrative buyouts on Wednesday

The email came just one day after new CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss outlined her vision for the network

The buyouts were offered by Kim Harvey, the executive producer of ‘Evening News,’ Variety reports.

But one person familiar with the negotiations told the outlet that Harvey and new ‘Evening News’ anchor Tony Dokoupil tried to dissuade management from making any cuts at the program – despite its rocky start.

The network news station had already laid off more than 2,000 employees under mandates put in force buy its new owner Paramount Skydance, which sought to cut costs after purchasing CBS from its former controlling shareholders, the Redstone family.

As Weiss’ tenure at the network now gets underway, some staff members at ‘Evening News’ have already expressed concerns over their future.

‘Well at ‘Evening News,’ people are afraid for their jobs and afraid to even speak for fear of retaliation,’ an unidentified employee said at the townhall meeting on Tuesday, according to a transcript obtained by Variety.

‘There has been a chilling effect within our newsroom,’ the employee continued. ‘It feels right now like if we offer feedback, alternatives or constructive criticism that we are asking for targets on our backs.’

Executives at the network, though, seem to be encouraged by Dokoupil’s start on ‘Evening News.’

Viewership has increased in the first few weeks on air, but the overall audience for the program continues to deplete and is down noticeably from the same period a year earlier. 

‘Evening News’ Executive Producer Kim Harvey and Dokoupil reportedly tried to dissuade management from making cuts at the program

Still, Weiss apparently wants to continue with the strategy she implemented at ‘Evening News,’ telling employees on Tuesday that the network has been far too focused on maintaining its current audience rather than expanding its reach to new viewers.

‘We’re for the center. We’re for the center-right, and we’re for the center-left,’ she reportedly said during her presentation at the meeting. 

‘The honest truth is right now we are not producing a product that enough people want,’ she said.

‘I am here to make CBS News fit for purpose in the 21st century.’  

Weiss then took a no-nonsense approach when addressing those who are not fans of her efforts. 

‘If that’s not your bag, that’s okay,’ she said, per The Independent.  

‘It’s a free country, and I completely respect if you decide I’m not the right leader for you or this isn’t the right place at the right time, there’s just too many exciting things to be spending your career doing.’

Weiss told employees at a town hall on Tuesday that the network has been far too focused on maintaining its current audience rather than expanding its reach to new viewers. She is pictured speaking at the 2022 Milken Institute Global Conference

The network has faced internal strife since Weiss took over in October

The network has faced internal strife since Weiss took over in October, with critics arguing she may have a pro-Trump agenda despite her pledge to uphold newsroom neutrality.

The backlash escalated when Weiss held back a ’60 Minutes’ segment on the Trump administration’s deportation of migrants to a notorious El Salvador prison.

She has repeatedly denied that the decision was made to appease Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison, whose tech mogul father, Larry Ellison, is a known Trump ally. 

Instead, Weiss claims that she only postponed the airing of the segment because she believed it needed more reporting. 

It now seems like Weiss has at least one ally –  longtime anchor Gayle King, who defended her vision on Tuesday as she slammed those who were leaking details of Weiss’ plans to the press.

‘What I like, Bari, about what you outlined is that I don’t know anybody in this room that doesn’t want to make change for the better,’ King said, per the Washington Post.

‘I don’t know anybody that doesn’t want to kick it up a notch. And I just don’t want any of us to lose sight of who we are and the job that we do here. I’m so proud to work at this company.’ 

The Daily Mail has reached out to CBS News for comment.