Variety reported that news correspondent Scott MacFarlane recently announced his departure from CBS News on LinkedIn. MacFarlan covered court decisions in the Washington, D.C. area for many years. His post was as follows: “This is my decision, and I appreciate the bosses at CBS for understanding it,” he said. “I will always value the opportunity I had to work alongside the talented and committed professionals here. I’m proud to have had the words ‘CBS correspondent’ next to my name — always will be. For the next phase of my career, I look forward to some independence and finding new spaces to share my work in line with my personal goals.”
His decision comes after the Paramount Skydance merger. An umbrella that is currently the subject of much ire among journalists. John Oliver (Community, Last Week Tonight) recently said, “How do I get the fuck out of this?” as he may become part of Paramount if it acquires Warner Bros. Paramount recently outbid Netflix in an effort to bring Warner Bros. under its banner.
According to Variety, Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison has previously said he would like CBS News to adopt more moderate political stance. Bari Weiss of The Free Press was recently hired as Editor-in-Chief. According to mxdwn, Weiss recently held a 60-minute interview for several weeks at the El Salvador prison CECOT. Weiss has notably given more airtime to Trump officials who have in the past attempted to undermine the media’s integrity. MacFarlane is not the first journalist to leave under Weiss’s tenure. CBS Evening News anchor John Dickerson left in October of last year.
Variety reported that a source close to the matter said MacFarlane’s move was a surprise to many of his colleagues. Notably, MacFarlane was on-site during the recent Butler, PA, assassination attempt of President Donald Trump. Before his time at CBS News, MacFarlane was an investigative reporter at WRC-TV in Washington, D.C.