CBS News remains 'adrift' as network marred in controversy, ratings woes

Several legacy news organizations are struggling to find their footing in the ever-evolving media landscape and perhaps no outlet is facing more of an identity crisis than CBS News. 

Three of its marquee news programs, "Face the Nation," "60 Minutes" and "CBS Evening News" have generated headlines for all the wrong reasons in recent weeks. "Face The Nation" moderator Margaret Brennan attempted to link the horrors of the Holocaust to free speech in an exchange she had with Secretary of State Marco Rubio about Vice President JD Vance's recent speech in Munich, Germany. During his remarks, the vice president condemned government censorship across Europe. 

"Well, he was standing in a country where free speech was weaponized to conduct a genocide, and he met with the head of a political party that has far-right views and some historic ties to extreme groups," Brennan said. "The context of that was changing the tone of it. And you know that, that the censorship was specifically about the right."

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"Well, I have to disagree with you," Rubio pushed back. "Free speech was not used to conduct a genocide. The genocide was conducted by an authoritarian Nazi regime that happened to also be genocidal because they hated Jews, and they hated minorities, and they hated those- they had a list of people they hated, but primarily the Jews. There was no free speech in Nazi Germany. There was none. There was also no opposition in Nazi Germany. They were the sole and only party that governed that country. So, that’s not an accurate reflection of history."

"Face The Nation" moderator Margaret Brennan raised eyebrows for claiming Nazi Germany's weaponization of "free speech" led to the Holocaust.  (CBS News screenshot)

Vance himself was floored by the "crazy exchange." 

"Does the media really think the Holocaust was caused by free speech?" the vice president reacted. 

CBS News further perplexed viewers that night with a pair of segments that aired on "60 Minutes." The first was a sympathetic report led by correspondent Scott Pelley about the laid-off USAID workers. Among those ousted who Pelley interviewed was Kristina Drye, a speechwriter for Biden-era USAID administrator Samantha Power, which Pelley did not disclose to viewers. 

The report that followed put a spotlight on Germany's strict laws cracking down on offensive online speech, authoritarian efforts spun by "60 Minutes" correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi as an effort to bring "civility" to the internet, boasting how prosecutors "argue they are protecting democracy and discourse by introducing a touch of German order to the unruly worldwide web."

There was little to no push back or skepticism from Alfonsi in her interviews with German officials and activists, who all supported the restricted speech. Critics noted that the "60 Minutes" report validated Vance's choice words to European allies who don't abide by free speech principles.

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"60 Minutes" aired a report offering minimal pushback to Germany's strict laws suppressing speech online.  (Screenshot/CBS News)

DePauw University journalism professor Jeffrey McCall said Brennan's comments and "60 Minutes" "show a stunning lack of understanding of the free expression principle."  

"This has to say something about the culture in the CBS newsroom," McCall told Fox News Digital. "CBS is not alone in the journalism sphere with its crusaderism, but its mistakes are piling up." 

As "Face the Nation" and "60 Minutes" take heat, "CBS Evening News" has seen continued ratings woes following the January departure of Norah O’Donnell, who anchored the program for five years. 

John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois succeeded O’Donnell, and the show pivoted from its traditional news-driven format to a magazine-style program. Bill Owens, the executive producer of "60 Minutes," was tapped by network bosses last year to also oversee "CBS Evening News," but the program has continued to fall behind its ABC and NBC rivals under his watch. 

"CBS Evening News" averaged 4.8 million viewers during the week of Jan. 27 when Dickerson and DuBois took over and dropped to under 4.5 million by the week of Feb. 10. By comparison, ABC’s "World News Tonight" averaged 8.3 million viewers and "NBC Nightly News" averaged 6.8 million viewers from Jan. 27 through Feb. 18. 

The newly-revamped "CBS Evening News" led by anchors Maurice DuBois and John Dickerson has already shed viewers following last month's departure of Norah O'Donnell.  (Screenshot/CBS News)

On Friday, the New York Post published a report that CBS honchos are ready to backtrack and revert to "a more news-driven broadcast as ratings tumble." CBS News did not respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. 

The Post report also criticized "CBS Evening News" for opening a recent program with a six-minute package about student literacy "despite a busy news cycle that included Elon Musk appearing at the White House and Russia’s release of a US prisoner."

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CBS News has been on a rocky road in recent months filled with various controversies. First was the tense backlash the network received for its fact-checking of Vance at the vice-presidential debate, even going so far as cutting his mic, which notably was moderated by Brennan and O'Donnell.  

Days later, newsroom turmoil erupted in reaction to "CBS This Morning" co-host Tony Dokoupil's grilling of anti-Israel author Ta-Nehisi Coates, which resulted in Dokoupil being reprimanded by network bosses for not meeting "editorial standards."

"CBS Mornings" co-anchor Tony Dokoupil irked liberal colleagues for his tense grilling of Ta-Nehisi Coates last year over the author's anti-Israel stance. (CBS/Screenshot)

But the network's biggest headache remains the fallout of its "60 Minutes" interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris just days before the presidential election.

CBS was under fire after it had swapped an answer Harris gave about Israel that aired as a preview clip on "Face The Nation," which was widely panned as word salad, to a shorter, more focused answer that aired in the primetime special the next day. 

The network complied with the FCC's demand for the raw interview transcript to be handed over after it refused to release the transcript in October. The transcript showed that CBS News had aired only the first half of Harris' response in the preview clip and aired the second half in the primetime special. 

The delayed transcript revelations did not stop Trump from filing what's now a whopping $20 billion lawsuit against CBS News, accusing the network of election interference. 

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CBS News' "60 Minutes" interview between veteran correspondent Bill Whitaker and then-Vice President Kamala Harris is at the center of President Trump's $20 billion lawsuit against the network.  (Screenshots/CBS News)

Cornell Law School professor and media critic William A. Jacobson suspects CBS' ideological blunders are the result of a network desperately trying to find its place in a media ecosystem where consumers no longer rely on legacy news organizations, and that "taking sides is the answer," telling Fox News Digital "CBS News seems adrift as to its place in the news world."

McCall agrees with Jacobson. 

"CBS has suffered a string of avoidable missteps because it has apparently stepped away from measured reporting," McCall said. 

It's not just critics who are calling out avoidable missteps. Staffers within CBS News admit the Harris interview snafu was "obviously an unforced error," a sharp rebuke of Owens, the "60 Minutes" chief who insisted the edit was "perfectly fine" and is refusing to apologize. 

"60 Minutes" executive producer Bill Owens called the controversial Kamala Harris edits "perfectly fine" and maintains his show owes no one an apology as CBS News mulls settling President Trump's lawsuit.   (Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile for Collision via Getty Images)

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But that apparently isn't the mood among corporate overlords. CBS parent company Paramount Global is reportedly considering settling the suit ahead of a planned merger with Skydance Media in hopes of preventing potential retribution by Trump's FCC, which has the authority to halt the multibillion-dollar transaction. Shari Redstone, Paramount’s controlling shareholder, is reportedly in favor of settling with the president. 

Regardless of whether it follows in the footsteps of ABC News, Meta and X in settling with Trump, CBS News' troubles will remain as well as its uncertain future. As McCall told Fox News Digital, its Walter Cronkite days are long over. 

CBS News did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.