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Taking CBS News to ‘a Better Place’

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Susan Zirinsky on Leading a Reset at CBS News

Speaking at the New Rules Summit organized by The Times, the head of CBS News said she took on the job to bring about a transformation.

I said CBS needs a reset. And if I take this on, people are going to trust me and several colleagues came and said, you have to do this. That was actually before I was offered the job. You know they said, help us. One correspondent wrote me an email. This was before. And it just had two words: help us. And he said... he’s an important correspondent at CBS . So I took it because I thought the company needed a major reset. I knew the assets of the company. The reporters, producers, cameramen. That they’re the best of the best. So I wanted to kind of take the organization functionally and spiritually to a better place. And so I said yes. You just used the words crisis, unraveling the need for a reset. You’d been there your entire career. Were you aware of just how corrosive things had gotten in some parts of the organization to the point where Charlie (Rose) was doing what he was doing, where Les (Moonves) was doing what he was doing and where Jeff Fager was making threats? To be truthful, I was the executive producer, senior executive producer, of “48 Hours.” We did specials, whether it’s a breaking story like Newtown or Aurora. And I was doing a number of other specials and documentaries for Showtime and I had a rarefied world where “48 Hours” as the base was just this incredible group of people. And so there were rumblings but it wasn’t in my world. And I didn’t really know the extent until it unraveled. Now leaders of course, set the tone for culture. Everything follows from the examples that they set. We saw where that got the previous regime. Since you’ve taken over in January. What steps have you taken to set a new tone at the company? Well, there are multi- First of all, there are multiple steps. I am an obsessive listener and because I have relationships with so many people at CBS. My assistant ... you know my calendar can sometimes go from 7:30 to 9:30 at night. And I always ask. That sounds late for you. Is there a wake up in lunch. Is there a lunch break. But to go back to the question because it’s really serious. You know, I felt that I needed to listen, to hear what really people thought. And then we had. But it is an interesting dynamic people listen a lot, but they don’t act. And I think that over the years. This is what was happening. There were listeners, but no action was taken. No consequences happen. People weren’t accountable. The debts of history were coming to. And so we have really put an enormous effort into fortifying real h.r. people who are listening and making recommendations and acting you know really increasing the number of people. And I think that both the MeToo movement and the issues of unconscious bias did not going to go away. You know sometimes there’s a movement and you achieve a level of success, which I think these movements are. But they’re not over. And they’re never going to be over. And the tectonic plates have shifted but they’re never going to lock and load. And that’s OK. I think unconscious bias is a very difficult problem for a society and for an organization on campuses. I think Anita Hill was saying this you know on all levels. But I think by acting and listening and meeting with small groups of people. It was a day when something was published and it was about unconscious bias. And I called a group of people and just spontaneously than I knew and I said, I want to hear what this is. I want to know what the it was. And when people went around the table and explained certain issues that had happened to them, it was so unsettling to me, it wasn’t my experience. It wasn’t people who I had worked with their experience. So the way to approach these monumental problems is in pockets of conversation and really allowing people knowing that action would happen because if there aren’t consequences when things are pointed out people can be unconsciously biased. But if there are no actions it means nothing. It’s like a child. There have to be consequences for behavior that isn’t acceptable. And there had been consequences. CBS News and you had to take action Among the first things you had to do when taking over the news division was filling a lot of open seats. How did you go about the process of recruiting talent and executives. Because I have to believe that it was more than just who was good on air. There was a level of social and emotional consideration that you had to put into these hires as well. Given everything that had happened actually it was a little tougher because there weren’t empty spaces. People were in jobs. And I will say there wasn’t anybody in a job that wasn’t working hard and doing a good job. People weren’t in the right places. So in the reset you really made decisions based on talent first and foremost based on a balance of who we are as a country based on the basic tenets of journalism, which is, who are the best reporters. It is gratifying that women and men and diverse candidates have really you know the effort is leveling the playing field. But we’re not putting people in because they’re diverse. We’re putting people in because they’re talented, because they are fabulous reporters and breaking stories. And so decisions are made based on the quality of someone’s work. Yeah, but the balance thing is something that you’re conscious of. Well, and as a result of your decisions. It was recently pointed out to me that as a result, all of CBS is non ensemble. CBS News is non ensemble shows are now fronted by women. Yes coincidence. No you know what use you are looking for the best people. But there is balance issue. And it’s exciting. It’s an exciting time. You know I don’t look at this as a fearful time. I look at this as well, if you can leave a legacy that changes a culture and changes a mindset. The only thing I’ve said about is that everybody publishes my age and how long I’ve been at CBS. And I think that’s by the consequence of seniority, I had hidden my age, because I think the people who are shorter look younger because the oxygen is better at a lower level. So to have my husband come and show me a front page in the New York Times, which had the success of older women. And I looked at that, I was in the shower and I heard she now everyone knew my age. I will have a word with Jess about that afterwards. One of the reasons I’ve heard you say you also were prepared to take this job at this moment is because of the climate around the news media right now and in the wake of labels of fake news. President Trump’s attacks against the media. Was that a part of the consideration as well. And what do you feel you can actually do to address it. You know I it was absolutely part. You know you can get maligned every day. But as journalists. I’m so focused on tuning out the noise. We have a job and at CBS were you know maybe a little straighter than other people in terms of it’s a vocation. It’s a calling for us. And quite frankly, I think the most important thing right now is to be reporters.

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Speaking at the New Rules Summit organized by The Times, the head of CBS News said she took on the job to bring about a transformation.CreditCredit...Jeenah Moon for The New York Times

Even before she was offered the job of president of CBS News, colleagues were lobbying Susan Zirinsky to take it.

“Help us,” one correspondent implored her via email.

It would be a challenging moment for anyone to manage: Charlie Rose had been fired from “CBS This Morning” and “60 Minutes” after being accused of sexual misconduct. Leslie Moonves, CBS’s chief executive, had been pushed out amid accusations of sexual misconduct. Jeff Fager, a longtime executive producer of “60 Minutes,” had been fired after threatening a colleague.

“Things were unraveling,” Ms. Zirinsky told attendees of the New Rules Summit, an annual New York Times conference. “The debts of history were coming due.”

But once the top job was on the table — again, as she had been asked about it years earlier — Ms. Zirinsky had an adage in the back of her mind: “A crisis is a terrible thing to waste.”

“The company needed a major reset,” she said. “I wanted to take the organization functionally and spiritually to a better place.”

Ms. Zirinsky, a highly respected producer who was the inspiration for Holly Hunter’s character in the movie “Broadcast News” and who was described by Gayle King of “CBS This Morning” as “a badass in every sense of the word,” has applied her trademark work ethic to helping her organization adjust its course.

Her calendar can be booked from 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., she said, sometimes without a lunch break but with a laser focus on listening, including to small groups of colleagues convened specifically for that purpose.

“It was so unsettling to me” to hear about some colleagues’ experiences, Ms. Zirinsky said during a conversation about unconscious bias.

“I felt that I needed to listen — to hear what really people thought,” Ms. Zirinsky said, emphasizing that action must follow. “There have to be consequences for behavior that isn’t acceptable.”

To that end, she said, CBS News has put in place a more robust human resources operation staffed with “real H.R. people who are listening and making recommendations and acting.”

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Ms. Zirinsky addressing CBS News employees in January.Credit...CBS

That focus on action has extended to personnel decisions, in which she said she was conscious of reflecting “a balance of who we are as a country.” It is gratifying, she said, that “the effort is leveling the playing field.”

But, Ms. Zirinsky added: “We’re not putting people in because they’re diverse. We’re putting people in because they’re talented.”

One of her first big moves as president was making Norah O’Donnell the anchor of the “CBS Evening News.”

Ms. Zirinsky, who joined CBS more than 40 years ago as a desk assistant answering phones on Saturdays, said her wide-ranging experience was crucial to the transition. “People feel that I had credibility because I had done their jobs,” she said. “I knew what it takes. I know the sacrifices men and women make.”

Those sacrifices are top of mind amid charges of “fake news” and attacks by President Trump on the news media. “The next two years as journalists are the most important two years,” Ms. Zirinsky said. “It’s time for us to reveal America to itself.”

“The hunger for real, straight news is desperate,” she said.

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section F, Page 9 of the New York edition with the headline: Taking CBS News to ‘a Better Place’. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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