CBS News London bureau chief Andy Clarke, a 37-year CBS News veteran who was responsible for dispatching journalists around the world, announced last week that he would be stepping down. According to the New York Post, Clarke’s exit comes after disagreements with CBS News co-president Neeraj Khemlani over budget cuts, with the Post citing sources close to the network.
The Post added, citing network insiders, that Clarke’s breaking point came when Khemlani initially refused to pay to extradite Afghan journalists and fixers who worked for CBS last year when Pres. Biden ordered U.S. troops to leave Afghanistan.
A CBS News spokesperson told the New York Post: “There have been no cuts to resources or requests denied out of Afghanistan. We are in investment mode—whether it’s growing the number of employees, which is up year-over-year, or creating more inventory across our shows for international reporting or working with an outside firm to build a tech solution that will help our newsgathering.”
The spokesperson then added: “These claims are patently false and made further ridiculous after we just delivered a live hour co-anchored from Ukraine on our streaming channel.”
It’s worth noting that a source close to CBS News told The Post that Clarke wasn’t denied anything he was asking for when dealing with Khemlani. However, Clarke alluded to the Afghan situation in a note to London bureau staffers last week, obtained by the Post. He leaves CBS News on March 25 after having joined in Feb. 1985.
“I held on through Christmas as I wanted to make sure our Afghan colleagues would make it to Canada and that is guaranteed to happen in the next few weeks,” Clarke wrote. “It’s been a largely enjoyable 38 years, for many I was privileged enough to have a front row seat helping to write the first draft of history.”