CBS News

On September 18, 1927, Arthur Judson, a talent agent frustrated by his clients being shut out of major stations, launched his own radio network. That network became the Columbia Broadcasting System, and its news division followed two years later. By 1933, Paul W. White was running CBS News, expanding its radio reach into Latin America to counter Nazi propaganda with help from the State Department. Television arrived in 1941 on New York's WCBW. Then, in 1962, Walter Cronkite took the anchor chair of the newly renamed CBS Evening News, and the network's reputation for trusted journalism was set.

CBS News now produces a slate of programs that includes CBS Mornings, CBS News Sunday Morning, 60 Minutes, 48 Hours, and Face the Nation. It operates a 24-hour streaming channel, CBS News 24/7, and a podcast lineup that includes The Takeout Podcast. The division's radio service and CBS Newspath feed affiliates across the country. In 2022, CBS News ranked second in broadcast evening news viewership, averaging 5,144 viewers, just behind NBC's 5,148.

The parent company has gone through many changes: Westinghouse bought CBS in 1995, Viacom merged with it in 2000, it spun off again in 2006, re-merged in 2019, and was renamed Paramount Global in 2022. In 2025, Skydance Media acquired Paramount Global, forming Paramount Skydance. That same year, Kenneth R. Weinstein, former head of the conservative Hudson Institute, was named CBS News ombudsman, and Bari Weiss, founder of The Free Press, became editor-in-chief. Critics saw these appointments as a rightward shift for the organization. [edit]