What To Know
- CBS News 24/7 staff plan a 24-hour strike on March 17 over pay, schedules, and severance disputes.
- The strike will involve about 60 employees across the 24/7 division.
- CBS News has seen recent layoffs, management changes, and high-profile departures since Bari Weiss became editor-in-chief.
There is more drama behind the scenes at CBS News as staff plan to go on strike on Tuesday (March 17) over a pay dispute, throwing the network into chaos.
According to TheWrap, the CBS News 24/7 team is set to stage a 24-hour walkout after negotiations with CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss imploded in recent days. The division, which employees 60 people, delivered its strike pledge to management last week after its current three-year contract expired without a new deal.
The key issues of the negotiations, which began in February, are pay increases, defined schedules, and severance packages.
“We agree that streaming news is definitely the future,” CBS News 24/7 producer Jordan Lilly told TheWrap. “We’ve been doing it here for 12 years. Glad that the rest of the world is catching up. But if that’s going to be where they stake their claim as the future of the company, they need to invest accordingly.”
So, how will this affect the rest of CBS News and its star anchors, including Tony Dokoupil, Gayle King, Margaret Brennan, and others?
For now, the strike involves only the CBS News 24/7 division and is planned as a 24-hour walkout. This means it isn’t expected to impact shows such as CBS Mornings, CBS Evening News, 60 Minutes, Face the Nation, 48 Hours, and others.
The strike is set to take place from 6 am ET on Tuesday and last until 6 am on Wednesday (March 18). CBS News 24/7’s New York staffers at the CBS Broadcast Center in Manhattan and colleagues at the KPIX-TV CBS News Bay Area office in San Francisco plan to picket at both offices.
Weiss, who was appointed as CBS News editor-in-chief in October 2025, has never had to negotiate with a union before. The outlet she co-founded and continues to run, The Free Press, is not unionized.
The strike comes amid a tumultuous time for CBS News, which has seen several changes since Weiss took over. In addition to layoffs, hirings, and promotions, Weiss has also been criticized for pulling stories. Star reporters, such as Anderson Cooper, and top producers have also announced their exits from the network.
