‘It’s A Disaster’: Chaos Explodes At CBS As Ratings Fall, New Hosts Flop

A ratings free fall is underway at CBS News as critics pan its transition to a two-anchor evening show format while insiders panic about the rudderless directions they’re receiving from executives who themselves are distracted or sitting on the chopping block.

At the start of the year, “CBS Evening News” debuted John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois in a bid to replace longtime host Norah O’Donnell. The “magazine-style, less headline-driven” format has been a snoozer for audiences while producers fear that executive producer Bill Owens has too much on his plate.

“It’s been critically panned, ratings down week by week and from this time last year,” the source told the Daily Mail. “[Executive Producer] Bill Owens is also overstretched and feeling the pressure with this lawsuit from Donald Trump,” a reference to the $20 billion lawsuit alleging “60 Minutes” deceptively edited its election-year interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris.

Owens, the longtime EP for “60 Minutes,” was enlisted to revive flagging ratings at “CBS Evening News,” which have only fallen further since he took the gig last summer. Some of his early cheerleaders, including CBS News and Stations’ President of Editorial and Newsgathering Adrienne Roark, have left the network, while others, like CEO Wendy McMahon, are rumored to be next in line for axing.

Nielsen ratings released last week and cited by sources show a 14% year-over-year decline for the evening news program.

“I would say it’s a five-alarm fire,” a seasoned former TV news executive confided to Status on Friday.

“It’s mind boggling,” another producer said about the overhaul strategy. “They took the ‘news’ out of the ‘Evening News!’ It’s not surprising the audience is leaving in droves.”

Despite the slump, defenders of the network insisted the new “CBS Evening News” will pay off in the long run.

“We are in this for the long term and are confident in our long game,” they told the Mail. “We expected this.”

Still, advertisers are growing wary as CBS’ ratings crater with key demographics. For the week of February 10th, CBS Evening News saw a 24% drop in 25-54-year-old viewers.

“That demographic is very important to advertisers,” the executive said. “The experiment is failing.”

Status’ other source noted that ratings for rival evening news programs on ABC and NBC saw slight bumps in ratings over the same period.

“It’s almost impossible to build it once you’ve lost it. So to have a drop off like that suggest that this asset… is circling the drain,” the producer added.

“Why did McMahon and Owens decide to try to reinvent the ‘Evening News’ in this challenging moment?” the industry insider went on to ask. “Any excuse you give the audience to change their habit is a massive risk. The habits are so fragile in this new media landscape. So if you give them an excuse to stop watching, they will.”

One source pointed to recent coverage of President Trump’s Oval Office appearance with Elon Musk which received just 22 seconds of coverage by Dickerson and DuBois.

This is “one of the most consequential periods for news in years,” they told Status. “And [yet] they are often minimizing the biggest story of the day to 20 seconds.”