If I Were the Boss at CBS…
-first published in Substack blog “The “Last Editor” on October 30, 2025
I’m sure we’re all watching what’s going on at CBS News right now. From the appointment of a “bias monitor” to the hiring of Bari Weiss as the first ever editor-in-chief for CBS News, all indications are that the most valuable brand in TV news is about to be dismantled and thrown to the dogs as scraps. Now under the control of billionaire heir David Ellison, this journalism giant has been a thorn in the side of the Trump administration and it appears Ellison plans to do something about that.
These changes shouldn’t come as a surprise to any of us. Buying up news organizations to muzzle them has become a regular pastime for the billionaire class. As we watch the demise of the Tiffany Network’s strong news voice, I figured I would spin a fantasy about what I’d do if someone gave me the keys to CBS and told me to “go crazy.” So here goes, the nine moves I’d make if I ran CBS (in no particular order):
Spin 60 Minutes off into an independent entity
This venerated news magazine has drawn Donald Trump’s ire time and time again, which threatens its ongoing editorial freedom—and even existence. One of my first moves would be to grant the rights to the 60 Minutes brand to the Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE), putting the production of the program entirely under that organization’s independent control. I’d sign a 99-year agreement for CBS to air the program in prime time and, more importantly, transfer the necessary funds into an endowment to permanently cover the entire cost of producing the program. This move would put this important voice in journalism outside the control of any future CBS administration and allow it to do its special kind of journalism forever.
Program an hour of news in broadcast prime time on CBS every weekday
Speaking of prime time, I’d return news to that daypart in a big way by using the 10 p.m. ET time slot, Monday through Friday, for original news content from CBS News. Mondays I’d focus on female-favorable true crime content to offset Monday Night Football. Perhaps I keep the 48 Hours branding or come up with something a bit fresher. Tuesday is for politics, so the offering there would be a showcase for an expanded Washington bureau (more on that in a moment). Wednesday would be the new home for 60 Minutes, moving it off its longtime place on Sunday night to keep it from facing off against football and other sports programming. Thursdays would be for news documentaries, bringing back the idea of longform reporting as seen in the classic Harvest of Shame, but with a modern, cinematic nonfiction approach. Finally, Fridays would be for fun, tapping into the success of news as comedy shows by turning The Daily Show into an hour long The Weekly Show, giving it more time to develop segments a la John Oliver’s This Week Tonight. Adding this news lineup to prime time would have the added benefit of being a great lead-in to the late, local news on CBS affiliates.
Immensely expand the DC newsroom
I mentioned Tuesday nights being the showcase for the work of an expanded Washington bureau, which seems like a must for the Trump administration and beyond. I would double or triple the number of journalists on the ground in DC, dividing beats to be sure we’re covering all three branches of government with as much vigor as possible. CBS News would leap ahead of the New York Times and the Washington Post as the news organization that breaks the vast majority of Washington stories. The goal would be to ferret out lies and corruption, shining a bright light on the offenses of both parties and the entire DC structure.
Refocus Face the Nation into a journalist-led debate program
With this DC bureau growth would come the reformatting of Face the Nation, keeping it as a full hour that must air in its entirety and changing its format to include a panel of journalists (all from our improved DC bureau) managing debates featuring guests from different parts of the political spectrum. The show would remain topical, inviting guests to debate the happenings of the previous week and allowing CBS News journalists to question all of them in a format that will generate clips to share on social media far beyond the reach of the program itself.
Go all in on CBS News 24/7 (and change the name)
I’ve talked a lot so far about broadcast changes, but I also know this isn’t still 1985. Most people are not going to sit in front of their televisions to wait for the programs to come on. CBS News has a streaming service, CBS News 24/7, but if you walked down the street asking people to name it, I doubt that one in one hundred could do so. Along with adding to the broadcast offerings, everything I’ve talked about so far should stream and be available on demand, as well as being added to the social media mix to use as content there. For the sake of brevity here, I won’t program a whole streaming day, but there is a lot to be done with that feed incorporating the power of CBS News—all without filling the day with partisan pundits arguing with each other. This would happen, remember, as CNN’s numbers are circling the drain and NBC is quickly scuttling MSNBC, so the field for a true 24 news network is opening up. Let’s come up with a new name for it, too. I favor something that evokes the good old days. CBS Eye perhaps?
Flood and own social media
Generating material for social media would become the number one goal for every part of CBS News. The future for the news operation will not be on broadcast television. It’s necessary for CBS News to completely flood social media with short, shareable videos that can go viral and be the content people stitch, share and talk about. I know that every news organization wants to accomplish this now, so this has to be a Herculean effort on the part of CBS News to be out there reaching everyone.
End CBS Mornings (except CBS News Sunday Morning)
Not every move I’d make would be about growth and expansion. It’s time to end CBS Mornings, returning the valuable early news hours to local stations where they can do much more with it. We already see how well Fox local morning shows do in their markets, usually dominating the other affiliates stuck with their networks’ morning offerings. Let CBS affiliates expand locally to compete with Fox and redirect those network morning resources to the other initiatives I’m suggesting. There is one exception to this plan, namely, to continue CBS News Sunday Morning just as it is now. It remains a perfect 90 minutes of television news—no notes. In fact, I’d steer some corporate funds into working on an immortality drug for Jane Pauley so she can continue to host the program indefinitely.
Hire Denver’s Kyle Clark and his team to remake the CBS Evening News
I’ve left the flagship news broadcast for nearly last, though that doesn’t mean I don’t have big changes in mind there, too. The network evening news—on all the networks—has devolved to a point that it serves no purpose, as far as I can tell, other than as a carrier for pharmaceutical advertising. Why not remake the program into something that will once again be important for informed people to see? I’d have CBS reach outside the company for this one, offering Kyle Clark and his team at Denver’s KUSA-TV (a TEGNA powerhouse) whatever it takes to get them to jump ship and bring their innovative newscast to the network. If you’re unfamiliar with Mr. Clark’s work, I urge you to take a look at his daily 6 pm newscast, entitled Next with Kyle Clark. Clark and his team are reinventing local TV news, actually making it valuable to viewers. Clark tells it like it is, which means no both sides-isms; instead, he calls out those who deserved to be called out no matter where they are on the political spectrum. Getting Clark on the network (or someone else able to do something similar) would breathe new life into a tired, yet still important news daypart.
Bring in a local TV news director to be a real editor-in-chief
The beauty of this little thought experiment is that I get to throw out all these great ideas, but I don’t have to do all the hard work to make them a reality. If this was more than a thought experiment and I really wanted all of this to happen, I’d need to find the right person for the job to lead the new CBS News. Rather than an editor-in-chief who appears to be brought in to shift CBS in favor of the billionaire class, I’d look to hire someone who’s already been making TV news work. And I wouldn’t have to look any further than among the best local news directors working today. Unlike my anchor pick, I won’t name any specific names here. But look at the most successful local newsrooms out there, CBS or otherwise, and you’ll find people creating newscasts and serving their communities at a level the networks haven’t achieved in years. Let’s turn that ability to make a difference locally into making an even bigger difference nationally.
That’s it, Mr. Ellison. You have a lot on your plate, so if you decide you can’t give CBS the attention it deserves, let me know. I’ll come out of retirement to get things on the right track for you.