CBS News chief stepping down as Paramount seeks to settle Trump suit

By Helen Coster

(Reuters) -Wendy McMahon, president and CEO of Paramount Global's CBS News, will step down from her position, telling staffers that she and the company have differing views on the path forward, according to a memo seen by Reuters on Monday.

McMahon, president and CEO of CBS News and Stations and CBS Media Ventures since 2023, said in the memo that the last few months have been challenging.

"It's become clear that the company and I do not agree on the path forward," she wrote. "It's time for me to move on and for this organization to move forward with new leadership."

Paramount, chaired by Shari Redstone, is preparing for an $8.4 billion merger with Skydance Media, which will require approval from the U.S. Federal Communications Commission. Paramount also entered mediation in April to try and settle a lawsuit by U.S. President Donald Trump against CBS.

Trump, then the Republican presidential candidate, filed a $10 billion lawsuit against CBS in October, alleging the network deceptively edited a "60 Minutes" interview with his Democratic opponent, Kamala Harris, to "tip the scales in favor of the Democratic Party" in the November election. Trump raised his claim for damages to $20 billion in February.

CBS aired two versions of the Harris interview in which she appears to give different answers to the same question about the Israel-Hamas war, according to the lawsuit filed in a federal court in Texas.

The network previously said the lawsuit is "completely without merit" and had asked a judge to dismiss the case.

Bill Owens, the long-time executive producer of "60 Minutes", said last month that he was stepping down over concerns about editorial independence, according to a memo seen by Reuters.

Shortly after Owens resigned, 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley said on air that "Paramount began to supervise our content in new ways" and Owens felt "he lost the independence that honest journalism requires."

On the campaign trail last year, Trump threatened to revoke CBS' broadcasting license if elected.

The New York Times first reported the news of McMahon's departure.

(Reporting by Helen Coster in New York and Juby Babu in Mexico City; Additional reporting by Lisa Richwine in Los Angeles; Editing by Leroy Leo and Paul Simao)

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