For almost 100 years, CBS has been one of the most well-known and respected news media brands in the United States.
But since the start of President Donald Trump’s second term, the brand and its parent network have lost respect, influence, and esteem as they’ve bent to Trump’s will.
While the right has often lashed out at media that doesn’t parrot the company line, the targeting of CBS has been sustained and politically successful. During the 2024 presidential campaign, Trump declined to be interviewed on “60 Minutes” simply because the network pressed him on his botched COVID-19 response during his failed 2020 reelection campaign.
After he won in 2024, Trump sued the network, falsely alleging that CBS manipulated former Vice President Kamala Harris’ responses during an interview. The suit was specious, and media law experts said that CBS had a strong case against Trump. But instead, CBS gave in and paid Trump off, effectively bribing him.
Not coincidentally, after the check from CBS’ parent company Paramount cleared, the Trump administration gave the green light to Paramount’s merger with Skydance, which is led by David Ellison and his father Larry Ellison, billionaire GOP donors.
Soon after the Ellison takeover, conservative activist Bari Weiss was brought on as CBS News’ editor-in-chief, and her own right-wing media outlet Free Press was purchased by CBS. Weiss immediately began moving the network into the Trump camp.
By December 2025, the Weiss regime at CBS was censoring news reports, like the “60 Minutes” segment on El Salvador’s CECOT prison, which had emerged as a vital dumping ground for Trump’s mass deportation machine. Hours before it was scheduled to be broadcast, Weiss pulled it and created a journalistic furor.
Meanwhile, on “CBS Evening News,” the network’s flagship news broadcast, anchor Tony Dokoupil was brought in and immediately began airing content to appeal to a pro-MAGA audience.
“Marco Rubio, we salute you,” Dokoupil gushed in a segment that attracted attention for all the wrong reasons.
While CBS’ news division was morphing into Trump TV, the entertainment division was buckling to Trump’s criticism as well.
Longtime Trump critic Stephen Colbert was sent packing when the network canceled his show, and Colbert went viral after a heavy-handed attempt by CBS brass to prevent him from interviewing James Talarico, a Democratic Senate candidate in Texas.
The network’s MAGA makeover might make sense if it were accompanied by a jump in ratings, but the opposite is true. The ratings for “CBS Evening News” are cratering, even reaching their lowest point for the entire 21st century.
When CBS isn’t shedding viewers, it’s losing key personnel. Anderson Cooper recently quit his role as a contributor to “60 Minutes,” noting that editorial independence has been a hallmark of the program’s content for a long time. Other reporters and producers are also jumping ship.
In a memo to staff announcing her departure in February, producer Alicia Hastey said that stories at the network are being “evaluated not just on their journalistic merit but on whether they conform to a shifting set of ideological expectations.”
Hastey also said that reporters are now practicing self-censorship, ignoring stories to avoid backlash from the right.
In fact, the headlines and ratings for CBS have been so bad that Ellison’s team has reportedly been looking to replace Weiss or significantly pull back her responsibilities.
But at least one influential news consumer is happy about it all: the president.
In a January interview with Dokoupil, Trump bragged that the reporter had him to thank for his position. Trump also praised David Ellison as an “amazing guy.”
Sure, trashing a storied media brand to get in the good graces of an unpopular president could be described as “amazing,” but that’s probably not what the founders of CBS had in mind.
Published with permission of Daily Kos
