The Circular Firing Squad: Staffers at CNN and CBS Denounce Efforts to Restore Balance

Related.

And now, a timely update: Washington Post employees have been asked to stay home today and participate in a Zoom call at 8:30am … Massive layoffs are expected.

WaPo's Matt Murray told staff the paper is shuttering its sports section, moving remaining staff to features, shrinking foreign coverage, restructuring metro, closing books coverage, suspending Post Reports podcast

“Whole company now waiting for a live or die email” one staffer…

— Natalie Korach (@NatalieKorach) February 4, 2026

h/t david murrell

Post Millennial;

CNN Chief National Security correspondent Alex Marquardt is leaving the outlet after eight years, after his reporting on Navy veteran Zachary Young cost CNN $5 million following a defamation suit. […]

Marquardt was at the center of a defamation case filed against CNN by Young, who in 2021 was working to evacuate Afghans during the Biden administration’s chaotic military withdrawal from that nation. Per the Daily Mail, Marquardt wrote to members of the team that worked on the November 2021 report, “We’re gonna nail this Zachary Young mf**ker.” The message was part of texts that were used against Marquardt in the case.

Marquardt’s report was aired on the Lead with Jake Tapper, the episode in which it premiered opened with Tapper claiming that Afghans attempting to flee the nation “face[d] a black market full of promises, demand of exorbitant fees and no guarantee of safety or success.” Tapper then cut to Marquardt, who claimed that an Afghan man located in the US had found people on Facebook charging $10,000 to evacuate people from Afghanistan.

He claimed that “desperate Afghans are now being exploited,” and used b-roll that featued a LinkedIn post from Young. Young had said during the trial that he never accepted money from those needing rescue, and that he had relied on corporate and NGO sponsorships to help.

Via Ace;

CBS is [in] crisis – with staffers crying in the hallways, fighting over story coverage and seating, and scrambling to update their resumes amid fears of mass layoffs.

Insiders have told the Daily Mail that morale has plummeted across the network, from the flagship Sunday news show 60 Minutes to CBS Mornings, sparked by a looming $8.4 billion merger and a $20 billion lawsuit.

The tumult is turning into a ‘bloodbath’, one employee said, with feverish speculation rife among colleagues as to who will get the axe next.

NY Post;

ABC News staffers are bracing for imminent layoffs while the division will restructure its programming including the merging of its “20/20” and “Nightline” programs and the consolidation of its “Good Morning America” productions, according to reports.

The Walt Disney Co. is set to lay off around 200 people from its ABC News Group division as well as its Disney Entertainment Networks unit — a move that constitutes cutting some 6% of the combined staff of the two units, according to the Wall Street Journal. […]

One casualty of the cost-cutting measure is the FiveThirtyEight data news site — the operation founded by Nate Silver which came to prominence in the 2008 and 2012 elections for accurately predicting the results.

I know you’ve seen this, but still: Nicolle Wallace saying she hopes the 13-year-old with brain cancer doesn’t kill himself after getting assaulted by Trump supporters.

Report: Acosta out at CNN

“The anchor, I’m told, signaled to associates in private conversations over the weekend that he intends to depart the network after its chief executive, Mark Thompson, booted him from the morning programming lineup — a move that conspicuously coincided with Donald Trump’s return to power.

“CNN brass, as we first reported earlier this month, decided to strip Acosta of his 10am show, which he has anchored to great ratings success over the last 11 months, at times even seeing higher viewership than programs in the channel’s prime time bloc. Acosta was instead offered the less-than-desirable option of anchoring a show from midnight until 2am ET. CNN pitched the gig to Acosta as anchoring during prime time on the West Coast and said he could move to Los Angeles to host the program. But the reality is the program would have aired at a time in which cable news viewership is at its lowest levels.”

For the week of Jan 13th, the @CNN audience in the key 25-54 demographic was roughly equal the population of Ankeny, Iowa.

THE CEO of CNN has warned the network’s future is in jeopardy if it does not adapt to the changing landscape of legacy media.

Over 200 layoffs were announced on Thursday and one of the network’s mainstays, Jim Acosta, was booted from his time slot as bosses scramble to address issues in the business.

This is also CNN: Megyn Kelly – How CNN Smeared a Navy Veteran

“We are deeply alarmed by recent leadership decisions that have led readers to question the integrity of this institution, broken with a tradition of transparency, and prompted some of our most distinguished colleagues to leave, with more departures imminent,” the letter reads.