CBS News Updates Terminology on Transgender Coverage

CBS News is making a significant shift in its reporting guidelines by dropping its support for a transgender advocacy style guide. The network will now officially use the term “biological sex,” according to a memo from Tom Burke, the senior director of standards and practices.

In the memo, Burke instructed staff to refer to “biological sex at birth” without quotation marks when addressing the Supreme Court case about states prohibiting trans athletes from competing in women’s sports. This change moves away from the network’s earlier practice of aligning with the Trans Journalists Association (TJA), which advocated for the phrase “sex assigned at birth” instead.

Jan Crawford, the legal correspondent for CBS News, emphasized that the network should avoid the terminology supported by the TJA. She asserted the need to stick with “biological sex” as a more straightforward term, again without quotation marks, as reported by The Wrap.

“We’ve discussed this multiple times, and I still believe we should not adopt the movement’s language,” Crawford noted.

In contrast, Nicole Cutrona, a producer at CBS Evening News, expressed concern that the use of “biological sex” could be seen as a reflection of the station’s “ignorance.” She has described the term as a “transphobic dog whistle,” highlighting the contentious nature of the language used in the debate.

This style adjustment marks another step in the direction that new CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss aims for since taking her role in October. Weiss is focused on creating more politically balanced coverage, pushing for changes like the removal of the Race and Culture section, and hiring conservative voices to diversify the network’s perspectives.