CBS News is offering buyouts to CBS Evening News staffers less than 24 hours after editor-in-chief Bari Weiss told employees to leave the company if their views don’t align with her new vision.
The buyouts, offered to non-union staffers, were announced at a Wednesday morning meeting by the executive producer of CBS Evening News, Kim Harvey, according to Variety.
A source at the news division told the Daily Beast that staffers who were offered the buyout received an email after the meeting stating they have until Feb. 2 to express interest in the “one-time opportunity,” and that they will not learn the terms of the buyout until that interest is submitted.
“At yesterday’s All-Hands, Bari charted a course for CBS News that’s very different from the one we’re now on,” read the email sent to staffers on Wednesday and reviewed by the Beast, which noted that for “some” who may not be “excited” about Weiss’ vision, they will be offered “an extraordinary chance to leave CBS News with an enhanced separation payment.”
Staffers interested in the voluntary buyout program will receive the financial terms of their offer on Feb. 4 and will have until Feb. 9 to “opt in and decide to resign,” according to the email.
“You are encouraged to consider this decision carefully,” the email concluded, advising staffers to contact their legal and financial advisers.
It remains unclear how many staffers were offered voluntary buyout packages or what terms those offers will include.
The revelation comes a day after Weiss held an all-hands meeting across CBS News bureaus on Tuesday, acknowledging that the network has struggled with public perception since she took over and outlining a “startup”-style plan for a new CBS News, telling staffers they could quit if they did not align with her vision.
“Startups aren’t for everyone,” Weiss said on Tuesday, warning that her new plan may create “noise” and “bad press” for the network.
“If that’s not your bag, that’s ok. It’s a free country, and I completely respect if you decide this is just not the right place at the right time for you,” she added.
Weiss’s remarks came as NPR reported that layoffs are coming at the network, though the editor-in-chief did not mention them in her address to staff.
News of buyouts at CBS’ Evening News comes after Weiss chose Tony Dokoupil to anchor the broadcast, a decision reportedly unpopular with both staffers and viewers.
In Dokoupil’s first weeks, the show saw a 20 percent drop in viewership compared with the same period last year, when Norah O’Donnell anchored, despite the new anchor urging viewers to give him a chance at leading the storied program.
According to Variety, Dokoupil and Harvey have tried to dissuade management from making staff cuts to Evening News, as CBS News laid off nearly 100 employees during Weiss’s first month in her position—a role she was given after CBS’s new owner, David Ellison, acquired The Free Press, an anti-“woke” website she co-founded.
During the Q&A portion of Tuesday’s all-staff meeting, one individual allegedly raised a concern about job security at the Evening News division.
“At Evening News, people are afraid for their jobs and afraid to even speak for fear of retaliation,” the staffer said at the meeting, according to The Guardian.
“There has been a chilling effect within our newsroom,” they added. “It feels right now like if we offer feedback, alternatives, or constructive criticism, that we are asking for targets on our backs—or the answer is simply no.”
CBS News did immediately respond to the Daily Beast’s request for comment.
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