Wendy McMahon, CEO and president of CBS News, abruptly announced her resignation from the network in a scathing internal memo to staff on Monday morning.
In the memo, obtained by Mediaite, McMahon acknowledged that “the past few months have been challenging.”
“It’s become clear that the company and I do not agree on the path forward,” she said. “It’s time for me to move on and for this organization to move forward with new leadership.”
The resignation follows months of internal turmoil linked to Paramount’s controlling shareholder, Shari Redstone, and her efforts to sell the company. Redstone reportedly attempted to influence CBS News coverage to appease the Trump administration and smooth the path for a sale, actions widely believed to have contributed to the resignation of Bill Owens, the respected executive producer of 60 Minutes.
McMahon publicly supported Owens after his departure, which he attributed to a breakdown in editorial independence at the storied news program. Her stance placed her at odds with company executives pushing for greater control over its reporting.
The controversy intensified after President Donald Trump filed a $20 billion lawsuit against “60 Minutes” over its 2024 campaign interview with Kamala Harris, alleging deceptive editing. Reports indicate Redstone is pushing for a settlement.
Last fall, CBS came under investigation over the highly deceptive interview, which was conducted by Bill Whitaker.
A complaint was filed by the Center for American Rights (CAR) against WCBS, which is a subsidiary of CBS New York for airing two different versions of the vice president’s answer to a question about whether or not Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is “listening” to the administration, The Daily Caller reported.
During a preview clip of her answer that was posted before the interview aired, the vice president said, “Well, Bill, the work that we have done has resulted in a number of movements in that region by Israel that were very much prompted by, or a result of, many things including our advocacy for what needs to happen in the region.
But in the clip that actually aired she said: “We are not gonna stop pursuing what is necessary for the United States to be clear about where we stand on the need for this war to end.”
FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington said that the commission often receives frivolous complaints but said that this complaint has merit because the two versions are substantially different from each other.
“The FCC does not regulate, or really even respond to, allegations of politically unfavorable coverage or legitimate editorial discretion,” he said to The Daily Caller News Foundation. “The recent complaint regarding WCBS-TV raises a fully different set of issues regarding whether or not coverage was intentionally distorted: reporting that something was said in response to a question that literally was not. I don’t know whether that’s true, but it’s a different issue.”
But someone familiar with the investigation told the DCNF that the Democratic chair of the commission, Jessica Rosenworcel, is not likely to pursue the allegation 18 days before the presidential election.
“CBS crosses a line when its production reaches the point of so transforming an interviewee’s answer that it is a fundamentally different answer. This, CBS may not do,” the complaint from CAR said. “Here, CBS has taken a single question and transformed Harris’ answer such the general public no longer has any confidence as to what the Vice President actually said in response to the query.”
“This isn’t just about one interview or one network. This is about the public’s trust in the media on critical issues of national security and international relations during one of the most consequential elections of our time,” CAR President Daniel Suhr said to the DCNF. “When broadcasters manipulate interviews and distort reality, it undermines democracy itself. The FCC must act swiftly to restore public confidence in our news media.”
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