CBS News Ratings Decline Under Bari Weiss
CBS News is facing challenges under editor-in-chief Bari Weiss, as both “CBS Evening News” and “CBS Morning” have seen a concerning drop in viewer ratings, further highlighting the network’s ongoing struggles.
During the week ending April 20, “CBS Morning,” co-hosted by Gayle King, who recently made a comeback to the network, attracted just 1.8 million viewers. This figure pales in comparison to NBC’s “Today,” which brought in nearly 3 million viewers.
ABC’s “Good Morning America” pulled in around 2.9 million viewers, but it only had about 310,000 in the crucial 25-54 age demographic. In contrast, “Today” achieved 639,000 and “GMA” had 508,000 viewers in that same category.
“CBS Evening News” averaged roughly 3.8 million viewers in the same timeframe, falling significantly behind ABC’s “World News Tonight,” which garnered about 8.5 million viewers, and NBC’s “Nightly News,” with approximately 6.1 million viewers.
In the key 25-54 demographic, CBS lagged further, attracting around 467,000 viewers, while ABC exceeded 1 million and NBC surpassed 800,000.
On the other hand, Fox News leveraged CBS’s difficulties to celebrate its own gains for April. Notably, its flagship program, “Special Reports with Bret Baier,” outperformed “CBS Evening News” in several major cities, including New York, Chicago, and Washington, D.C.
Fox also highlighted its morning program, “FOX & Friends,” which averaged about 1.4 million viewers in April, surpassing “CBS Morning” in 23 major markets such as Los Angeles and Dallas, and continuing to close the gap with rival networks.
Insiders close to CBS News downplayed the negative ratings, pointing to signs of improvement under Tony Dokoupil, the new anchor. They cited a roughly 2% year-over-year increase in April and steady growth since his appointment in January.
Officials mentioned that this season’s broadcasts averaged about 4.2 million viewers and 535,000 in the key demographic, showing a rise compared to the previous anchors, Maurice Dubois and John Dickerson.
The ongoing decline in ratings corresponds with some unrest within the network. Recently, CBS News removed its London bureau chief after a disagreement with Weiss regarding coverage of Iran and Gaza, which insiders see as indicative of broader issues within the news department.
Reports have surfaced regarding Claire Day’s departure as the London bureau chief due to conflicts with Weiss over Middle East coverage.
The shake-up was validated by CBS’s parent company, Paramount Skydance, which announced that Shaindy Reis, formerly with the Wall Street Journal, will step in as the new foreign editor-in-chief.
Inquiries have been made to NBC News, ABC News, and CBS News for their commentary on the situation.
