The economic impact of Covid-19 has hit CBS News and its affiliates.
TVNewser obtained a memo from CBS News president Susan Zirinsky. In it, she writes, “There isn’t a single person we won’t miss, but we have a responsibility to respond to a financial world that has changed dramatically over the last few months. And we have a responsibility to position CBS News for the future.”
A single-digit percentage of staffers has been let go from the network news division as well as from the owned stations.
Media reporter Robert Feder reports that WBBM, the CBS station in Chicago, was hit by the cuts.
Longtime and legendary 75-year-old investigative reporter Pam Zekman was among those fired today. (You may recall Zekman played herself in the 1993 Harrison Ford film The Fugitive.) Others dismissed were morning news anchor Erin Kennedy, sports anchor Megan Mawicke, meteorologist Megan Glaros and reporters Mike Puccinelli and Mai Martinez, according to Feder.
Ad revenue is down significantly from last year at CBS, in part due to the pandemic.
It’s unclear how this will impact the New York property, WCBS, which is located in the CBS News broadcast center on the Upper West Side.
In December, CBS merged with Viacom, which resulted in several rounds of staff cuts.