CBS News Chief Neeraj Khemlani Exits

Neeraj Khemlani, president and co-head of CBS News, announced in a memo to employees on Sunday that he is stepping down.

Khemlani says that he has signed a first-look production deal with CBS and Simon & Schuster to develop documentaries, books and scripted series that he says will “allow me to write, report and develop stories that I’ve long wanted to pursue.”

TheWrap reports CBS Entertainment President/CEO George Cheeks said in a separate memo that more information about the new leadership and structure for CBS News would be shared in the coming weeks.

Neeraj Khemlani

Khemlani joined CBS News in 2021 from Hearst, overseeing an overhaul of the network’s morning news programming including a new lineup of anchor Gayle King, former football player Nate Burleson and correspondent Tony Dokoupil. Under his leadership, CBS News also added new reporters like Robert Costa and Cecelia Vega and developed new streaming programs for Paramount+ and other platforms.

“We maintained the #1 position of our iconic weekend programs, successfully developed and launched business plans to grow digital revenue that will sustain CBS News for the next generation, and elevated and promoted so many of the people who work here day after day to deliver on our journalistic mission,” Khemlani said in his memo.

“Neeraj will leave CBS News with our broadcasts stronger and our streaming footprint bigger and better,” Cheeks said. “The talent he recruited to the division the past few years is best in class. He has put new business plans in place to drive more revenue, which is essential in a challenging environment for all media companies.”

Variety reports the shake-up is the second of CBS News’ command structure since 2021 under the aegis of parent corporation Paramount Global, which was formed in 2019 out of the merger of the companies known previously as Viacom Inc. and CBS Corp. The previous CBS News chief, the veteran producer Susan Zirinsky, took the reins of the unit in 2019, a bid by CBS executives to put an end to a chaotic period that saw the departures of anchor Charlie Rose and executive Jeff Fager amid claims about their behavior. Both men denied allegations made about them.

McMahon, a veteran of both CBS and ABC who has spent more time focused on CBS’ local-stations business, is widely seen as a leading candidate to assume Khemlani’s duties at CBS News, according to three familiar with the matter. Paramount Global and CBS could name a replacement as soon as Monday afternoon.

Khemlani’s departure marks the latest in a series by top TV-news executives, a sign of how much more difficult the operating environment has become for staples of television programming as more viewers shift from linear consumption to streaming video on demand. Chris Licht, a former CBS News executive who became CEO of CNN, was ousted in June after a tumultuous reign. Noah Oppenheim, who enjoyed a six-year tenure as president of NBC News, left the company in January after a reorganization of NBCUniversal’s news operations.