Brian Steinberg
·3 min read
The next president of CBS News will also run a group of major market local stations in New York and Boston. The next head of CBS’ local stations will also supervise digital properties tied to national programming.
Adrienne Roark and Jennifer Mitchell will take new oversight of CBS News and CBS’ local stations, respectively, in the latest batch of maneuvers by Paramount Global to combine the operations of both businesses. Their duties show the emphasis CBS is putting on merging local TV operations and national newsgathering — two of the bedrock operations of the media business — at at time when the rise of streaming video has thrown their economics into disarray.
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“Our journalists and team members across the division are working together more collaboratively and efficiently to drive impact across all of our shows and streams,” said Wendy McMahon, president and CEO of the business operations of the company’s national newsgathering operations, local stations and syndication unit. “This structure is designed to support and build our next-generation news organization. By working with our talented teams in every newsroom, each of these leaders will enhance our coverage and better position us for the future.”
In an unorthodox development, McMahon said she will directly oversee the news shows that run on CBS, telling staffers in a memo Monday that “I will now oversee our Network broadcasts, working directly with show executive producers to continue maximizing our brands to their fullest potential on broadcast and beyond.”
Roark was named president of editorial and newsgathering for CBS News and Stations and will lead the unified organization’s teams in the field and across newsrooms. She will assume CBS News’ editorial leadership responsibilities that had been held by Ingrid Ciprián-Matthews, who has transitioned from serving as president of CBS News into a new role as a senior editorial adviser.
Mitchell, who will become president of Stations and Digital for CBS News and Stations, will assume primary responsibility for CBS Stations, as well as the division’s local and national digital properties. She will oversee 23 of the 27 CBS-owned stations, expanding her portfolio to now include seven stations in the East that had been led by Roark. Roark, however, will continue to lead WCBS and WLNY in New York, as well as WBZ and WSBK in Boston.
Roark began her career at CBS, taking a position after college at WBNS, the CBS affiliate in Columbus. She moved to stations in Cleveland, Miami, Orlando and Dallas-Fort Worth before becoming general manager of CBS affiliate KOIN in 2014. She served as general manager of Fox affiliate KPTV and MyNetwork station KPDX from 2016 until rejoining CBS in 2021.
Mitchell joined CBS Stations in September 2021 after 22 years at ABC Owned Television Stations as senior vice president of content development. She led strategies across the station group’s eight local stations and created and launched Localish, a digital lifestyle brand. Her experience includes 15 years with KGO, the ABC-owned station in San Francisco.
As part of the reorganization of the unit, McMahon said Alvin Patrick will expand his duties, continuing as executive producer of CBS News’ group devoted to coverage of race and culture, while also taking oversight of original long-form programming for CBS News’ digital and streaming outlets. He will report to McMahon.
Terri Stewart will lead day to day editorial newsgathering across CBS News and Stations, and will take on the role of senior vice president of newsgathering. Wendy Fisher, a former longtime senior executive at ABC News, was named senior vice president of editorial. She will also continue to oversee weather coverage across the broader unit. Both will report to Roark.
Meanwhile, David Reiter will oversee special events, special projects and CBS News 24/7, the company’s live-streaming hub. He will also report to Roark.
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