CBS News taps Tom Cibrowski as No. 2 exec — amid rumors that network boss is on the way out
CBS News has hired a well-regarded TV veteran as its No. 2 executive — even as insiders speculate that the broadcast giant’s boss is on the way out.
The Tiffany Network appointed former ABC News executive Tom Cibrowski to the role of president and executive editor of CBS News, replacing Adrienne Roark, the former CBS News president of newsgathering, who left for a job at Tegna earlier this month.
Cibrowski — a 25-year veteran of ABC News who served as executive producer of “Good Morning America” when it overtook NBC’s “Today” in the ratings — will have a wider purview than Roark, running all CBS News shows, as well as newsgathering and reporting units.
The network’s embattled boss Wendy McMahon, president and CEO of CBS News and Television Stations, announced Cibrowski’s appointment on Thursday.
“Everything he does is marked by a deep understanding of the news landscape, and he is committed to telling stories with impact, integrity, and fairness,” McMahon wrote in a memo to staff.
Cibrowski has held numerous high-profile roles but was passed over for the several top jobs at ABC News, including the news president role last year and the head of ABC News’ local stations. Most recently, he was president of ABC News’ KGO-TV in the Bay Area,
“He’s a pro, solid, stable no mistakes,” said a former ABC colleague.
A second source added that McMahon, who worked with Cibrowski at ABC, “trusts him” and is likely hoping he can help her reverse the fortunes of the network and help “save her job.”
Speculation over McMahon’s fate has mushroomed in recent weeks following missteps including the overhaul of “CBS Evening News.” McMahon replaced anchor Norah O’Donnell with lesser-known, budget-friendly co-anchors John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois while revamping the news-centric format to focus on longer “60 Minutes-style” features.
Results have been disastrous, with ratings dropping by the week and producers caught flat-footed during major breaking news events. As reported by The Post, the show has done an about-face and tried to front-load the nightly news program with breaking news and analysis.
The turmoil comes as Skydance Media aims to merge with the Paramount Global-owned network this year in a deal that is expected to result in sweeping layoffs and a restructuring of Paramount, home to CBS, MTV and Showtime.
Sources told The Post that Skydance CEO David Ellison and former NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell, who is primed to take over as president of the merged company, are rumored to have doubts about McMahon.
“The Ellison-Skydance contingent has not been impressed by her strategy or leadership ability,” another source told The Post last week.
Skydance, Ellison and CBS declined to comment at the time.
Insiders say the Cibrowski appointment is a last-ditch effort by McMahon, who some speculated could lose the top job in the coming weeks.
Some speculated that Cibrowski could replace McMahon, while others said a more likely scenario would be for Shell and CBS CEO Cheeks to bring in their own person.
Either way, “There’s no way she survives,” a source close to Skydance and Shell told The Post on Thursday. “She has been a disaster.”
“I don’t think she lasts more than a month,” the person speculated.
Other missteps include the debacle around “60 Minutes’” edit of its Kamala Harris interview. President Trump sued CBS News for a whopping $20 billion, claiming it “deceptively” edited the interview to make the former Vice President look better in the sitdown.
Trump demanded the network turnover the transcripts but they pushed back for months until FCC chairman Brendan Carr– who will decide if Skydance can merge with Paramount — began applying pressure.
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Earlier this month, CBS handed over the transcript, but it did not reveal any doctoring on the part of the newsmagazine show, just some clean-up of Harris’ wordy responses.
The long, drawn out debacle was savaged in the press and will likely cost the network millions as the case is before a mediator who is working with Trump and the media giant to reach a settlement.
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Former ABC News executive Tom Cibrowski tapped as president of CBS News
Tom Cibrowski, who oversaw ABC’s “Good Morning America” during one of its most successful eras, is joining CBS News as president and executive editor.
The storied news division, which has been reeling over its legal battle involving President Trump, announced Thursday that Ciabrowski will oversee newsgathering and programming.
Cibrowski will report to Wendy McMahon, president and chief executive of CBS News and Television Stations and CBS Media Ventures. He succeeds Adrienne Roark, who briefly held the position before taking a leadership role at Tegna, a TV station group.
Cibrowski is the fifth CBS News president since January 2019, when David Rhodes was replaced by Susan Zirinsky, who now heads a documentary unit at Paramount Global.
CBS News will be looking to Cibrowski to provide stability as it navigates through a Trump lawsuit over its “60 Minutes” interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris during the 2024 presidential election. Trump is suing the network for $20 billion, arguing that the Harris interview was deceptively edited and a form of election interference.
Settlement talks have taken place and CBS News parent Paramount Global is trying to close a merger deal with Skydance Media.
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On the programming side, Ciabrowski will be charged with fixing the recently relaunched “CBS Evening News” that added an anchor team and a weather forecaster to its format, which has not been well-received by viewers.
Cibrowski has deep experience in network news. He worked at CBS as a broadcast producer on its morning program “The Early Show” when it was co-anchored by Bryant Gumbel.
Cibrowski moved to ABC where he traveled extensively while producing coverage of war zones in Kosovo and Iraq. Under his tenure as senior executive producer of “Good Morning America” in 2012, the program topped NBC’s “Today” in the ratings for the first time in 16 years.
Cibrowski was promoted to senior vice president in charge of ABC News Programs, News Gathering and Special Events. He spent the last seven years as president and general manager of KGO-TV, the Disney-owned TV station in San Francisco.
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Stephen Battaglio writes about television and the media business for the Los Angeles Times out of New York. His coverage of the television industry has appeared in TV Guide, the New York Daily News, the New York Times, Fortune, the Hollywood Reporter, Inside.com and Adweek. He is also the author of three books about television, including a biography of pioneer talk show host and producer David Susskind.
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