CBS News President and CEO Wendy McMahon announced her resignation on Monday because "the company and I do not agree on the path forward."
Left unstated but hanging over her announcement: CBS' corporate parent, Paramount Global, and its controlling owner, Shari Redstone, are involved in settlement negotiations with lawyers for President Trump in an effort to settle his $20 billion lawsuit against CBS' signature show, 60 Minutes.
McMahon made her announcement the morning after the final episode of this season's 60 Minutes and just weeks after the resignation of the show's veteran executive producer, Bill Owens. Owens said he no longer felt he could lead the show independently.
Both McMahon and Owens had told colleagues they adamantly opposed a settlement with Trump.
Last fall, CBS aired differing excerpts of then-Vice President Kamala Harris's response to a question about the Israel/Gaza war on two different shows — 60 Minutes and Face the Nation. Trump accused the network of election fraud, claiming it was hiding her incoherence.
CBS called the differences a journalistic decision. Legal observers and media lawyers uniformly tell NPR that the network should prevail due to the First Amendment's free speech protections, and that Trump does not have firm legal grounds for a case.
In January before Trump's inauguration, a longtime CBS News executive, Susan Zirinsky, was named to monitor standards of the network's major news programs. Journalists at 60 Minutes believed the appointment was primarily aimed at them. Zirinksy, a much acclaimed producer, is close with Redstone, who has been critical of CBS' news coverage of Israel as well.
Yet 60 Minutes has still subjected Trump and his new administration to tough scrutiny. Correspondent Scott Pelley, a close friend of Owens, has told viewers that no stories have been pulled because of corporate pressures.
Scrutiny under the Trump administration
Because the broadcast licenses to CBS' local stations would be transferred if the sale goes through, the Federal Communications Commission must approve the deal first. FCC Chair Brendan Carr has opened a formal investigation of CBS for the Harris interview and invited public comment. Carr has signaled his support for Trump's lawsuit.
Redstone and Paramount executives have said privately they believe they need to resolve Trump's suit —regardless of the merits — before federal regulators decide whether to approve the sale of the company to Skydance Media, according to several people with knowledge of events. (They were granted anonymity to allow them to speak about confidential transactions and negotiations.)
Paramount Global executives took inspiration from the Walt Disney Co.'s decision to settle a defamation suit against ABC News that included a multimillion-dollar payment to a future Trump foundation and an apology. Owens told his staff he would not sign off on any apology and McMahon made clear that she supported him fully in that.
Skydance is owned by David Ellison, the son of Oracle founder Larry Ellison, a Trump backer who is ultimately financing the deal. David Ellison has tapped former NBC Universal CEO Jeff Shell to lead Paramount Global, presuming the acquisition takes place.
It had appeared unlikely that McMahon's tenure would survive such a deal.
A parting word to viewers
In her parting note, McMahon thanked CBS viewers, writing, "Thank you for your trust. You hold us accountable, and you remind us why this work matters."
McMahon came up through local news and was named co-president of CBS's news division and stations in 2021. She took over the job two years ago on her own when her co-president, Neeraj Khemlani, left in a shakeup. She also oversaw syndicated programming.
In a statement to staff released publicly by the network, George Cheeks, the co-CEO of Paramount Global and chief of CBS, praised her tenure mostly in terms of her work in local stations. He notably did not address the backdrop to her decision.
"In a rapidly changing world, Wendy and her teams have worked diligently to articulate a vision and lay a foundation that adapts our news operations for the future," Cheeks wrote.
The network did not comment on the status of settlement talks.
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