CBS News staffers fret that layoffs will hamper newsgathering

A round of layoffs at CBS News resulted in substantial cuts this week in Washington, Los Angeles and London, leaving staffers morose about their thinning ranks, which they warned would limit the network’s newsgathering ability. At least 90 positions are being eliminated in the budget tightening, according to multiple sources, which began Friday when the Moscow bureau was shuttered and the Tel Aviv bureau was reduced to one producer.

Every newscast is feeling the cuts, which executives said were necessary to reduce newsgathering costs and make the news division more of a financial contributor to parent company CBS Corp. Four correspondents -- Sheila MacVicar in London, Sandra Hughes in Los Angeles, science and technology reporter Daniel Sieberg and Randall Pinkston in New York -- were asked to take positions with CBS Newspath, the network’s affiliate news service, in order to keep their jobs. The correspondents will still report for the network’s broadcasts, as well, according to a news executive who declined to be named when speaking about personnel.

The Washington, Los Angeles and London bureaus each lost close to a dozen positions, including part-time staff, sources said, and the San Francisco bureau was trimmed.

“Everyone is just walking around in shock,” said one staffer. “One news executive said, ‘We were covering the news with one arm tied behind our back. Now we’re going to do it with two arms tied behind our back.’ ”

Those leaving include veteran producer Larry Doyle, who served as Baghdad bureau chief and recently returned from covering the disaster in Haiti. He was among several very well-regarded producers let go, sources said.

“It’s a very sad place,” said one person familiar with the cuts. “We always were the leanest and still we always came back with the goods. But when you lose people like Larry Doyle, who is going to go in there and come back with the goods?”

Compounding the frustration inside the news division is the large salary commanded by CBS anchor Katie Couric, who joined the network in 2006 for a five-year deal worth around $15 million annually. During her tenure, “CBS Evening News” has remained in third place.  

The news executive who spoke on condition of anonymity defended Couric, noting that the broadcast has received multiple awards for its journalism, and said her salary was not forcing the cuts. “No matter how much money we’re paying our anchor, we would look at our newsgathering operations and say, ‘We can save money here,’” the executive said. “There is no connection between Katie’s salary and these cuts. The cuts are a result of what’s happening in the news business.”

Indeed, CBS is one of many media organizations that have been forced to retool because of a weak demand for advertising. NBC and ABC have also cut their news divisions in the last few years, and further belt-tightening measures at ABC are being considered, sources said.

-- Matea Gold

Comments

[encinoman]

They could have 75 news people earning $150,000 plus $50,000 in benefits for what they pay Katie Couric for a year.

[H. Craig Bradley]

Psst! Nobody is watching Katie Couric these days. In fact, from what I gather, Nielson Ratings indicate a continual decline in viewers for the traditional prime time news broadcasts (CBS,ABC,NBC). Ditto with the likes of the L.A. Times. Seems Fox News is picking up a large number of these former T.V. viewers and local subscribers, as well.

There is a good chance that mediocre reporting and very slanted, left wing bias has infected the traditional media outlets adversely with reduced profitability. Warren Buffet predicts many newspapers will go out of business in the next 20 years. Consider it the decline in American culture and importance. Some of this may be caused by viewers going to the internet for their news, but the trend is long established and involves other issues.

[Terry Miller]

AMAZING--I can remember when Newspath began as the bastard child of CBS News--a sop to the affiliates who wanted content for their late news shows. The feeds were cast-off stories that Evening News didn't need, or regional stories from affiliates. Now to see such top notch talent reassigned to Newspath is to come full circle. Wonder if they had to take a salary cut because it was only 3 or 4 years ago that beancounters went thro the Newspath bureaus closing them right and left and eliminating the producers.

[Mike Stone]

[From Broadcast News, screenplay by James L. Brooks]

The network anchorman, BILL RORISH [Jack Nicholson], is 50 years old and able to flutter much younger pulses. He is able and experienced -- a reporter who has become a journalistic king.

BILL
This is a brutal layoff...And all
because they couldn't program Wednesdays.

PAUL [the news executive]
You can make it a little less brutal
by knocking a million dollars or so off
your salary.

AS Bill turns:

PAUL
Just a bad joke. I'm sorry. Awful.
It's a miserable day and that was
some kind of totally sick-joke
defense mechanism which does not
indicate any of my feelings -- not
one -- but just shows the kind of
stress this represents for all of us.