Trey Sherman, a Black associate producer for CBS Evening News Plus, was laid off in October after Paramount closed its merger with Skydance and announced over 2,000 job cuts. Sherman said he later learned that all four people of colour on his nine-person team were let go, while all five white colleagues were reassigned. CBS did not respond to requests for comment.
The Guardian spoke to seven recently laid off journalists at CBS, NBC and Teen Vogue who reported similar patterns: people of colour being dismissed while white colleagues kept their jobs, or coverage of marginalised communities being cut. The layoffs come amid a nationwide crackdown on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) following executive orders by President Donald Trump in January.
Newsrooms have long struggled with diversity. A 2022 Pew survey found that 76% of US journalists were white, compared with 58% of the population. In July, Skydance promised the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) it would eliminate Paramount's DEI initiatives. FCC Chair Brendan Carr launched investigations into NBC Universal and Disney's diversity programmes this year.
In October, opinion journalist Bari Weiss, who has called to 'end DEI for good', was appointed editor in chief of CBS News. In early November, sources said most Teen Vogue employees, many of whom were women of colour, were laid off. Some journalists see these moves as capitulation to the Trump administration's anti-DEI push.
