Departing CBS News veteran cites new political pressures in farewell memo

Walsh’s note didn’t go into detail on this topic, but it mirrors concerns that have been bubbling out of CBS News for nearly a year at this point, since even before its parent company Paramount was formally bought by David Ellison’s Skydance. (Many of these public cracks—which include public statements from stalwarts like Lesley Stahl about her overall disappointment with her corporate overlords—began to appear after the April 2025 resignation of long-time 60 Minutes producer Bill Owens, who told staffers that his ability to make independent decisions was being damaged and curtailed by corporate higher-ups.) Instead of belaboring the point, Walsh’s memo simply ends by reminding her now-former colleagues at CBS News that “History is being made every day. Cover it. I’ll be watching. And please stay in touch.”

Walsh’s characterization has not gone unchallenged at CBS. The Guardian reports that Kim Harvey, the CBS Evening News executive producer who’s been with CBS News since 2017, pushed back on Walsh’s note with a note to staff of her own. “We wish Mary Walsh well and thank her for many years of service,” Harvey wrote in a follow-up. “Mary wrote in her farewell note, ‘We’ve been told to aim our reporting at a particular part of the political spectrum.’ That is simply not true. Here at the Evening News, we value our editorial independence, and CBS News leadership has never asked us to aim our reporting in any political direction.”