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CBS News
| CBS News | |
 | |
| Basic facts | |
| Location: | New York |
| Type: | News Media |
| Affiliation: | CBS |
| Top official: | Tom Cibrowski, President and Executive Editor |
| Website: | Official website |
CBS News is the news division of CBS. CBS News operates across multiple platforms, including television, radio and online news.
Background
CBS was founded in 1928 when American businessman William S. Paley purchased United Independent Broadcasters, Inc., a network of 16 radio stations, and renamed the network Columbia Broadcast System (CBS).[1] In 1954, CBS created CBS News as its official news division.[1] In 2014, CBS News launched CBSN, it's 24/7 digital streaming network.[1]
CBS News is headquartered in New York. The news division includes news magazine shows such as the CBS Evening News, CBS This Morning, 48 Hours, 60 Minutes, Sunday Morning and Face the Nation.[2]
As of October 2025, CBS News' website stated, "Our mission is to empower Americans across all ages and demographics to understand the stories and issues that shape the world around us. And we want to meet you where you're looking for those stories, whether it's on network TV, streaming platforms, CBSNews.com, social media, or wherever you get your podcasts."[3]
Below is a list of notable journalists who have worked for CBS News (the list is not comprehensive):[4][5]
- Ed Bradley
- Walter Cronkite
- Fred Friendly
- Don Hewitt
- Charles Kuralt
- Bill Moyers
- George Polk
- Edward R. Murrow
- Dan Rather
- Lesley Stahl
- Steve Kroft
- Morley Safer
- Harry Reasoner
- Christiane Amanpour
- Mike Wallace
- Diane Sawyer
- Bob Schieffer
Leadership
Below is the list of the leadership of CBS News as of October 2025:[6][7]
- Bari Weiss, Editor-in-chief
- Tom Cibrowski, President and Executive Editor
- Jennifer Mitchell, President, Stations and Digital for CBS News and Stations
- Ross Dagan, Executive vice president and head of news operations and transformation for CBS News and Stations
- Stacey Benson, Chief financial officer
Work and activities
Coverage priorities
As of October 2025, CBS News described its mission and coverage priorities as follows:[3]
| “ |
"Our mission is to empower Americans across all ages and demographics to understand the stories and issues that shape the world around us. And we want to meet you where you're looking for those stories, whether it's on network TV, streaming platforms, CBSNews.com, social media, or wherever you get your podcasts. Our website aims to reflect the breadth and depth of CBS News and Stations reporting, bringing you daily stories of national, global and local significance. You can count on us for reliable, real-time updates on breaking news, as well as context around what that news will mean for you. CBSNews.com also seeks to extend and amplify in-depth reporting and interviews across CBS News and Stations, bringing you extended sit-downs with newsmakers, investigative deep dives and data-driven journalism. Politics is a sizable aspect of our daily coverage. We will always seek to hold your elected officials accountable through fair, unbiased and fact-based reporting. We'll also help you make sense of elections, Supreme Court decisions and other significant developments through our thorough explainers about key political issues and outcomes. MoneyWatch, our personal finance section, aims to deliver business news and explainers through the lens of Main Street, not Wall Street. We want to help you understand how economic issues will impact your wallet, your investments and your retirement accounts.[8] |
” |
Presidential debates
2024 presidential election
On October 1, 2024, CBS hosted the vice presidential debate between Gov. Tim Walz (D-Minn.) and Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio). Margaret Brennan and Norah O'Donnell moderated the debate.[9]
2020 presidential election
On February 25, 2020, CBS hosted the tenth Democratic presidential primary debate in Charleston, South Carolina. Margaret Brennan, Major Garrett, Gayle King, Norah O'Donnell, and Bill Whitaker moderated the debate.[10]
2016 presidential elections
- See also: Presidential debates (2015-2016)
On August, 2015, CBS announced that they and Twitter, KCCI-TV and The Des Moines Register would host the second Democratic presidential primary debate in Des Moines, Iowa. Twitter, according to CBS News, would supply realtime data during the debate that measuredpeople's responses to the debate.[11][12]
CBS News' John Dickerson moderated the debate along with CBS congressional correspondent, Nancy Cordes, KCCI-TV (CBS affiliate) anchor, Kevin Cooney, and political columnist for the Des Moines Register, Kathie Obradovich.[13][14]
1960 presidential election
CBS hosted the first-ever televised presidential debate between Sen. John F. Kennedy (D-Mass.), and Vice President Richard Nixon (R).[15]
Notable endorsements
This section displays endorsements this organization made in elections within Ballotpedia's coverage scope. Know of one we missed? Click here to let us know.
Circulation
According to Nielsen Media Research data reported by Adweek, between May 26 and August 29, 2025, CBS averaged more than 2 million primetime viewers. This was fewer primetime viewers than Fox News, ABC, and NBC and more viewers than Fox.[16]
According to Paramount, CBS News’ streaming services received more than 1.24 billion streams in 2023. The CBS News Streaming Network includes 30 digital platforms and apps and is available live in 91 countries.[17]
Finances
As of October 2025, financial data for CBS News was not available. If you have information to share, click here.
Media
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms CBS News. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
- What is an influencer?
- John Dickerson
- CBS Democratic debate (November 14, 2015)
- Nancy Cordes
- Kevin Cooney
- Kathie Obradovich
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Paramount, "History," accessed October 20, 2025
- ↑ CBS Corporation, "CBS News," accessed November 13, 2015
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 CBS News, "Our publishing principles at CBS News," Our publishing principles at CBS News," accessed July 24, 2025
- ↑ NYU, "The 100 Outstanding Journalists in the United States in the Last 100 Years," accessed November 13, 2015
- ↑ CBS News, "60 Minutes," accessed November 13, 2015
- ↑ CBS News, "Executive Team," accessed October 17, 2025
- ↑ CBS News, "Bari Weiss named editor-in-chief of CBS News as Paramount acquires The Free Press," accessed October 6, 2025
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ CBS News, "Read the full VP debate transcript from the Walz-Vance showdown," October 2, 2024
- ↑ Vox, "Meet the moderators of the South Carolina Democratic debate," February 25, 2020
- ↑ CBS News, "Twitter, CBS and the 2015 Democratic debate," November 3, 2015
- ↑ CBS News, "CBS News announces details for 2016 debates," August 11, 2015
- ↑ Des Moines Register, "Debate moderator seeks to focus on issues, not himself," November 9, 2015
- ↑ Politico, "CBS News, Twitter partner up for second Democratic debate," October 26, 2015
- ↑ CBS News, "The Great Debate: First televised presidential debate held at CBS Chicago 64 years ago this month," September 10, 2024
- ↑ AdWeek, "Fox News Wins Summer Primetime Against Cable and Network Rivals ," Septemver 29, 2025
- ↑ Paramount, "CBS News," accessed October 20, 2025
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