NEW YORK—CBS News and Stations has announced a new editorial leadership structure, with Adrienne Roark and Jennifer Mitchell taking on expanded roles across the local-to-global news organization.

As part of a new editorial leadership structure, the division also announced that several veteran CBS News and Stations executives have been given expanded duties in overseeing daily editorial and newsgathering across all platforms. The announcement was made on August 5 by Wendy McMahon, president and CEO of CBS News and Stations and CBS Media Ventures.

“Today marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter as we write the future of CBS News and Stations," McMahon said. "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. I have great confidence in the team we are assembling, beginning with Adrienne and Jennifer, who are terrific partners and inspirational, aspirational and empathetic leaders. 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 the new structure, Adrienne Roark has been named president of Editorial and Newsgathering for CBS News and Stations. She will lead the unified organization’s teams in the field and across newsrooms to drive the daily Network News content engine, including correspondents, assignment desks, bureaus, booking teams, standards and practices. In addition she will oversee the Super Desk central newsgathering and storytelling platform, and CBS News Radio. 

She will also continue to lead the CBS Local News Innovation Lab in Dallas-Fort Worth, the Centers of Excellence she has built around data journalism, weather and specialized beats/units, and WCBS and WLNY in New York, as well as WBZ and WSBK in Boston.

Jennifer 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 (KYW and WPSG in Philadelphia, KDKA and WPKD in Pittsburgh, WFOR and WBFS in Miami, and WJZ in Baltimore).

Roark will assume CBS News’ editorial leadership responsibilities that had been held by Ingrid Ciprián-Matthews, who last week transitioned from serving as president of CBS News into a new role as the Network’s senior editorial adviser, to help lead political coverage through the November election. Ciprián-Matthews continues to report to McMahon and work closely with the CBS News political team and the Washington, D.C., bureau, the company reported. 

In addition to providing leadership to CBS’ large-market stations along the East Coast over the past three years, Roark has led newsrooms in the biggest markets across the country over the course of her career. She has spearheaded several of CBS News and Stations’ recent cross-divisional initiatives, including Eye on America and a national community journalism movement. She has also had a greater presence in the CBS News control room, providing leadership and support to the Network’s breaking news coverage. This includes driving collaboration and tapping into the strengths of CBS’ local and national teams across bureaus and newsrooms when reporting on events such as the assassination attempt on former President Trump and the Key Bridge collapse in Baltimore, the company reported. 

Mitchell has led innovation across CBS News and Stations’ newsrooms and digital platforms. She most recently played a key role in conceptualizing and bringing to life CBS NEWS 24/7, the flagship show for CBS News’ national stream of the same name. She has played a vital role in growing CBS Stations’ local streams as they have skyrocketed from fourth to first, collectively, against their same-market competition. Mitchell has also helped develop the strategic plans that have allowed CBS Stations to invest in and grow the number of hours of local news produced each year by more than 9,000, the company said. 

Roark and Mitchell will continue to report to McMahon and share responsibility for overseeing the content for the division’s local and national streaming channels. Mitchell has more than 20 years of experience as a multi-platform newsroom leader and joined the Network as president of CBS Stations in 2021. Roark began her career at CBS, and after managing newsrooms in major markets, returned in 2021 as president of CBS Stations and was named president of Content Development and Integration for CBS News, Stations and Media Ventures in 2023.

McMahon will oversee all CBS News network broadcasts, working directly with the executive producers of those shows to continue to maximize the organization’s brands and editorial capabilities across all screens and platforms.

As part of the new executive leadership structure, McMahon also announced that Alvin Patrick will assume a new role. In addition to continuing to serve as executive producer of the CBS News Race and Culture Unit, Patrick will expand his oversight of original long-form programming for CBS News digital and streaming properties, including CBS News 24/7 and Paramount+, to include specials and documentaries for platforms across CBS News, Stations and Media Ventures. He is the founding executive producer of the Race and Culture Unit, which was created in 2020. He will report to McMahon.

Roark also announced that day-to-day editorial newsgathering across CBS News and Stations will be led by longtime CBS News executive Terri Stewart, who assumes expanded responsibilities as senior vice president of newsgathering, and Wendy Fisher, who has been named senior vice president of editorial. 

Stewart will continue to guide the Network’s news gathering efforts, in addition to running the news hubs to support the new community journalism coverage. She will also focus on the development of a CBS News and Stations coverage desk. 

Fisher will focus on driving strategic, comprehensive coverage across the group, working closely with the Washington, foreign and domestic bureaus. She will continue to oversee weather coverage for CBS News and Stations. Both will report to Roark.

In an expanded role as senior vice president of CBS News 24/7, special events and special projects, David Reiter will continue to oversee all special events and projects for CBS News. This includes breaking news and coverage of special events such as Election Night. In addition to his responsibilities for special coverage on television, he will lead the division’s streaming initiatives, including the development of expanded content offerings. Reiter will oversee the special events and streaming team, reporting into Roark.

NEW YORK—Award-winning journalist and veteran news executive Ingrid Ciprian-Matthews has been named president of CBS News.

The news was announced by Wendy McMahon, newly appointed president and CEO of CBS News and Stations and CBS Media Ventures. McMahon made the announcement shortly after she was named to her newly created post overseeing CBS News and Stations and the company’s syndication arm CBS Media Ventures on Monday August 14.

Ciprian-Matthews, a 30-year veteran of CBS News who most recently served as executive vice president for newsgathering, will now have top editorial oversight for CBS News across all platforms. 

As president, she will oversee all CBS News programs, bureaus, global newsgathering, streaming and digital editorial, as well as standards and practices, special events, politics, elections and surveys, social, the race and culture unit and CBS News Radio.

“There is no one with a stronger background to continue CBS News’ great journalistic legacy than Ingrid,” said McMahon, “Ingrid’s editorial expertise, her depth of knowledge and sensitivity to the nuance of the subjects we cover around the globe, and her impeccable news judgment make her an incredible leader. She is unwavering in her commitment to our journalism and to the people and culture of CBS News. I’m so pleased that she has agreed to partner with me at this important time.”

Throughout her distinguished career, Ciprian-Matthews has held several senior editorial roles, from Washington bureau chief to the London bureau and overseeing coverage of presidential election coverage, international conflicts, natural disasters, political events and terrorist attacks, CBS News reported. 

Prior to leading global newsgathering in 2021, Ciprian-Matthews served as executive vice president and CBS News Washington bureau chief beginning in July 2020 and previously served as an executive vice president for CBS News and executive vice president of strategic professional development, where she focused on recruiting and elevating high-potential journalists, the company said. 

Ciprian-Matthews held top leadership positions as the senior vice president of news administration (2015-2018) and vice president of news (2011-2015), a role in which she coordinated all day-to-day news coverage. Before that, she served as CBS News’ foreign editor (2006-2011); senior broadcast producer for the CBS EVENING NEWS (2004-2006); and senior producer for CBS News’ foreign coverage (2000-2004). In 1998, she became the deputy bureau chief for the CBS News London bureau (1998-2000) and served as senior broadcast producer for CBS News’ morning broadcasts from 1994-1998. She joined CBS News in 1993 as a senior producer for live segments for the morning news. 

Before joining CBS News, Ciprian-Matthews was the managing editor of CNN’s New York bureau (1990-1993) and a field producer, assignment manager and assignment editor for CNN (1984-1990). She started her career as a general assignment reporter for the National Public Radio Spanish-language news program “Enfoque Nacional.”

Throughout her career, Ciprian-Matthews has guided coverage of major news events, including ethnic cleansing in Kosovo in the late ‘90s; the bombing of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania; several wars and numerous bombings in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan; liberation movements and the Arab Spring from Tunisia to Egypt; the nuclear challenge from both Iran and North Korea; and deadly earthquakes in China, Haiti and Chile.

Ciprian-Matthews is an Emmy Award-winning journalist and the recipient of an Alfred I. duPont Award for CBS News’ coverage of the Newtown tragedy and an Edward R. Murrow Award for Overall Excellence for CBS News in 2018. In 2016, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists presented Ciprian-Matthews with the Presidential Award of Impact, citing her exceptional news experience and deep commitment to journalistic excellence.

More recently, Ciprian-Matthews was named one of the 2023 Most Influential Latinos in Media by the Imagen Foundation, an advocacy organization for Latinos in media. Also, in 2023, she was honored with a Columbia University Black Alumni Council Heritage Award for service. Ciprian-Matthews was also honored by the community organization Bigs and Littles NYC Mentoring.

Ciprian-Matthews is a member of the Paramount Veterans Network and Paramount’s Global Inclusion Advisory Committee. She is a board member of the International Women’s Media Foundation, News Leaders Association, and the Freedom Forum Institute’s Power Shift Project.

Ciprian-Matthews was born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. In 1981 she received a bachelor’s degree from Barnard College and graduated from New York University in 1984 with a master’s degree in journalism.

NEW YORK—Wendy McMahon has been named president and chief executive officer of CBS News and Stations and CBS Media Ventures, expanding her role to include singular oversight of CBS News and Stations as well as leadership of CBS' domestic syndication business. 

In the newly recreated position she will report to George Cheeks, president and chief executive officer of CBS. 

The news follows the departure of Neeraj Khemlani, who had been president and co-head of CBS News and Stations along with McMahon. 

In this newly created role and structure, McMahon will now lead all of CBS News' broadcast and streaming operations, 27 local television stations in major U.S. markets, 14 local news streaming channels and CMV's top-rated first-run syndication programming, as well as its content licensing to television stations and the division's national advertising sales business.

Programming under McMahon's expanded portfolio will span CBS News daily and weekly news broadcasts to first-run entertainment series. She will also oversee CBS Radio, CBS Newspath and CBS' national and local streaming news services.

McMahon's new purview will encompass all areas of oversight previously shared with Neeraj Khemlani, also president and co-head of CBS News and Stations, and Steven LoCascio, president of CBS Media Ventures, as well as her continued leadership of CBS' local businesses.

Khemlani announced yesterday his plans to begin a multiplatform first-look deal with CBS to develop content including documentaries, scripted series and books for Simon & Schuster. LoCascio, a 34-year veteran of CBS, announced today his plans to retire at the end of his current contract, the company reported. 

Since being appointed president and co-head of CBS News and Stations in May 2021, McMahon has worked with Khemlani to optimize CBS' journalistic resources across its national and local platforms to establish a local-to-global news organization with increased emphasis in streaming, the company said. 

In her two-plus years overseeing stations, McMahon has transformed the local business with a focus on improving the quality of the stations' content, community service and workplace culture. This has resulted in stronger competitive positions across platforms: 11 of 13 broadcast stations are now #1 or #2 in late local news. CBS Stations' local streaming channels viewership is up +61% year-over-year in 2023, and the last 11 months have been the local streaming channels' 11 highest months to date.

She has also expanded local news coverage in many markets, including launching a seven-hour morning news franchise in Los Angeles and building the "newsroom of the future" at WWJ-TV, the CBS-owned station in Detroit. McMahon established the CBS Local News Innovation Lab that is creating data-driven investigations and solutions-oriented journalism for local stations and partnering with the Network for broader coverage.

"At every turn since joining CBS, Wendy has used her unique skill set as an innovator, business operator and people leader to energize operations, support our best-in-class journalism and position CBS for its multiplatform future," said Cheeks. "She is a dynamic leader with clear vision who generates forward momentum in every business she touches. I'm excited for the future of CBS News, our local stations and our valuable syndication franchises under her leadership."

NEW YORK—CBS will combine CBS News and the CBS Television Stations with Neeraj Khemlani, Hearst Newspapers, Cable Networks & Digital Media executive; and Wendy McMahon, former ABC Owned Television Stations Group president, taking the lead. They have been named presidents and co-heads of the newly formed division. They will report to George Cheeks, president and chief executive officer of the CBS Entertainment Group.

“This is an opportunity to create a news and information structure that positions CBS for the future,” said Cheeks in a company statement. “It speaks to our ability to scale newsgathering, production, technical and operational resources to serve both national and local, linear and digital, with the agility to deliver trusted information to every platform. Wendy and Neeraj have the leadership background and cross-platform accomplishments that cover all these important areas, and they share our commitment for supporting superior journalism, optimal delivery platforms and the strongest of organizational cultures.”

McMahon and Khemlani will partner on managing all aspects of the division, marking a homecoming to CBS for both executives—Khemlani as a producer on “60 Minutes” and “60 Minutes II” for eight years while McMahon served seven years at WBZ Boston and WCCO Minneapolis.

The unified division will bring under one management structure the broadcast resources of CBS News, the 24/7 streaming news service CBSN, 10 CBSN Local platforms, cbsnews.com and 28 CBS-owned stations in 17 major U.S. markets. It will maximize the power of CBS’ newsgathering and production operations to serve audiences across all national, digital, local and global platforms.

Susan Zirinsky will continue as president of CBS News until the new leadership has started and will assist with the transition. The company is in discussions with Zirinsky for a significant role at a new CBS News Content Studio to be launched later this year.

Khemlani was most recently executive vice president and deputy group head at Hearst Newspapers, overseeing 3,000 employees who publish print and digital subscription products for 24 dailies and 52 weeklies in cities across the country.

Prior to this position, McMahon was president of the ABC Owned Stations with direct responsibility for the Walt Disney Co.’s eight broadcast stations, local newsrooms and streaming assets, as well as oversight of the 1,500 team members who collectively achieved their 12th consecutive year of local television news leadership in 2020.

WASHINGTON—Seven new members have been elected to the board of directors of the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Leadership Foundation, NAB announced.

The NAB Leadership Foundation works with broadcast leaders and those who wish to be. It offers training programs, career development resources and awards aimed at strengthening the industry by developing the next generation of broadcast leaders, says the foundation’s website. 

The new board members are: Artie Altman, executive vice president of The Katz Television Group, Katz Media Group; Jan Goldstein, Gray Television’s senior vice president of Human Resources; Brian Lawlor, president of Local Media for The E.W. Scripps Company; DeDe Lea, executive vice president of Global Public Policy and Government Relations at ViacomCBS; Wendy McMahon, president of ABC Owned Television Stations Group; Ralph Oakley, president and CEO of Quincy Media Inc.; and Gayle Troberman, the executive vice president and chief marketing officer of iHeartMedia.

More information is available on the NAB Foundation website.

LAS VEGAS—NAB will honor Wendy McMahon, president, ABC Owned Television Stations Group, with its Digital Leadership Award, Monday, April 8, at the 2019 NAB Show in Las Vegas during its Achievement in Broadcasting Dinner.

The Digital Leadership Award is presented to an individual at a broadcast station, group or network who has played a significant role in transforming a traditional broadcast business so that it succeeds on digital media platforms, NAB said.

McMahon is responsible for the group’s stations and their digital assets. She is guiding an effort to modernize the group’s news and information brands with a focus on next-gen storytelling, capabilities and distribution, it said.

McMahon has overseen the group’s expansion of its multiplatform content portfolios, including the launch of the Localish digital brand, and she has directed its pioneering Community Journalist program that embeds digital-first reporters in the neighborhoods they serve.

Before being named president, McMahon led the group’s stations in developing digital content and products, which contributed to historic increases in audience and video-performance, the association said.

More information is available on the NAB Show website.

The ABC Owned Television Stations Group said it is starting a new community journalist program that will create local content for audiences on multiple platforms.

The stations plan to hire more than 20 journalists in the first year of the program. The first 10 will be hired by KABC-TV, in Los Angeles. The others will be located in New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Houston.

“We are always evolving how we inform and reflect the communities we serve based on the changes we see in our audiences,” said Wendy McMahon, president, ABC Owned Television Stations Group. “Interest in local content is growing rapidly and, at the same time, it’s becoming increasingly granular. With this commitment, we are re-imagining the future of local newsgathering to more strategically meet those demands and to ensure that we continue to be the leaders in our local markets.”

KABC is looking for participation from local universities and other institutions to identify candidates for the Los Angeles market who will live in the communities they cover. Applicants should be proficient in newsgathering and able to shoot, edit and publish stories for digital, social and linear distribution. The University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism has already committed to recruiting graduates to the program.

“Our idea is to ‘make SoCal small’ by enhancing and broadening our coverage to create a deeper, more authentic local connection,” said Cheryl Fair, president and general manager, KABC. “We want these reporters to truly engage with and be a part of the communities they cover.”

ABC Owned Television Stations recently launched the digital-first video brand Localish, which creates "good news" stories from local markets and distributes them nationally for viewers on mobile platforms.

LOS ANGELES—Last month, Disney announced Wendy McMahon would become the new president of ABC Owned Television Stations Group, effective Jan. 1.

While she has just over three weeks of experience in that role, McMahon is quite familiar with the station group–especially with its digital content, a touchpoint for viewers that continues to grow in importance. Before taking over as group president, McMahon served as the senior vice president for digital and oversaw adoption of data-driven, mobile-first video strategies.

As station group president, McMahon is now responsible for all aspects of the eight ABC-owned TV stations in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Houston, Raleigh-Durham, N.C., and Fresno, Calif.

In this interview, she discusses a recent major upgrade to the group’s news app, whether there’s still a place for big-screen viewing in a mobile-first world, the opportunities presented by ATSC 3.0 and whether or not the recent FCC decision to do away with its local main studio rule will have any effect on the station group.

TVTechnology:Congratulations on your promotion. Let’s start with the recent announcement of an upgraded app that’s more customizable to enable users to specify personal news preferences. It also emphasizes live news streaming. From a newsroom workflow and news production perspective, what is the impact of this new offering across the ABC-owned stations?

Wendy McMahon: Thank you—I am incredibly honored by the opportunity to lead these powerful brands and businesses forward. We are committed to our local audiences and ensuring that every interaction, every engagement with our content and with our products is better than the last. Data and technology are powerful enablers and sources of strength for us in that effort.

You speak to two of the core promises we wanted to offer consumers in these upgraded apps: First, the ability to create personal streams of content and second, the ability to seamlessly engage with live news and moments that matter as they are happening.

Our content teams are amazing storytellers—and that capability is best represented in moments of live news coverage. We set out to showcase that strength in our upgraded apps. We want the apps to feel alive so we focused on an enhanced live streaming experience. It’s very easy for a user to discover and jump into multiple live streams, and our goal is to expand those offerings.

We also wanted to empower our audiences by giving them the tools to control their news experience. The app has a newsroom-curated top news feed, and we believe that is an essential aspect of what we do as a trusted news source. We also think it is important to let audiences explore, follow and keep up with the areas and topics most important to them resulting in personal streams of content [which is] titled “My News” in the app. We are also experimenting with AI as well as aggregation to make sure that experience becomes richer and more robust.

And we are seeing really positive results since we launched. In terms of downloads, video views and usage, we are experiencing dramatic, double-digit YOY [year-over-year] growth. In the first 16 days of this year, we have nearly eclipsed our total app uniques from January 2017. There is an increase in positive app reviews, and we are seeing a deeper level of engagement with fans spending between 10 and 30 minutes per visit in the app consuming OTT video and text, and also curating and personalizing their local news. We couldn’t be happier with viewers’ response and look forward to continuing to utilize our technology and data resources to deliver the best possible local news experiences.

TVT:The love affair of people, especially those in younger demographics, with their smartphones and tablets is radically transforming how people access news, information and entertainment. Can local broadcasters win those eyeballs back onto their main platform, i.e. TV? Should they even try? Or, should they simply accept what is happening in terms of preferences and pour increased resources into capitalizing on these digital platforms?

WM: Our local brands are intent on serving our audiences across all platforms. If a consumer chooses to engage with us on their smartphone, fantastic. If it’s a television set in their living room, great. Our goal is to meet and exceed their expectations at each touchpoint in the audience journey. If on a smartphone, the content is mobile-first, immediately available, less packaged and more “in-the-moment,” often short-form and easily digestible. If on TV, you can sit back and spend your morning with us, watching our local morning news and Good Morning America. When we understand and optimize for the needs of the audience by platform, all platforms win. The audience wins. The brands win.

TVT:ATSC 3.0 authorization opens multiple new opportunities for broadcasters. What will be your priorities regarding the next generation standard, from the points of view of deployment and business opportunities?

WM: I’m excited to dig into all the opportunities potentially afforded by 3.0, and I’ve asked my team to dig into both the business opportunities and the deployment options. I’ll be closely following the results from the Phoenix test market.

Given my background in digital, I am of course excited by the idea of creating better and more targeted experiences for our viewers [and] of enabling our advertisers to be even more sophisticated and surgical in their pursuit of relevant consumers. Bringing those uniquely digital qualities and attributes to linear television is very intriguing. 

TVT:Will the FCC’s recent elimination of its main studio rule affect ABC-Owned Television Stations? If so, how? Perhaps greater centralization of operations such as ingest, traffic, master control, playout. What about news production?

WM: We operate great local stations, and we’ll continue to operate those stations locally. Of course, I’m always interested in finding ways to better serve our viewers. Enabled by data and technology, I’ll be looking for ways to do just that. 

BURBANK, CALIF.—Wendy McMahon yesterday, Dec. 6, was appointed president of the ABC Owned Television Stations Group.

Wendy McMahon

"Wendy combines a deep understanding of the power of broadcast television, a passion for digital media and a broad vision for the future of local,” said Ben Sherwood, co-chairman of Disney Media Networks and president Disney | ABC Television Group, who announced the move.

McMahon will be responsible, effective Jan. 1, 2018, for the eight ABC-owned TV stations in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Houston, Raleigh-Durham, N.C., and Fresno, Calif.

Before taking on her new role, McMahon was SVP Digital for the ABC Owned Stations Group. In that position she was responsible for the station group’s digital content, product/technology and audience development strategies, according to an ABC press release.

McMahon also oversaw the adoption of data-driven, mobile-first video strategies as well as led a local-branded content studio to bring the group’s content and distribution to premium partners, it said.

Previously, McMahon was VP of Creative Services and Programming at KABC in Los Angeles.