CBS has been one of the businesses that’s experienced the most tumult in the wake of the #MeToo movement, with executives Les Moonves and Jeff Fager and star Charlie Rose all ousted amid charges of misconduct. But “this will never be over,” new CBS News president Susan Zirinsky says of the #MeToo movement—though not with the tone of dismay you might expect from the leader tasked with overseeing the next chapter of the storied news division.
“We’ve all gone through the #MeToo movement in whatever business we’ve been in,” Zirinsky, known as the inspiration for Holly Hunter’s hardworking producer in 1987’s Broadcast News, said at a Coins2Day Most Powerful Women dinner in New York Thursday night. “When something happens—even wars—it’s over. This will never be over. This is a point in culture, in society—no person can come out of the last year and treat people the same way.”
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In her first sit-down, public interview since taking over the CBS News mantle in January, Zirinsky spoke to Coins2Day‘s Pattie Sellers about her career, which started at CBS in Washington, D.C. Two weeks after the Watergate burglary. She even brought out her favorite memento: Walter Cronkite’s original script from the night President Richard Nixon resigned, with Cronkite’s handwritten scribbles across the pages.
Zirinsky was introduced by CBS This Morning‘s Gayle King, who highlighted what she says is overwhelming support for Zirinsky within the CBS offices—”We all feel it’s a brand new day at CBS”—and a milestone in morning news: all three networks’ morning shows are now led by women.
Ever the newswoman, Zirinsky has retained her title of executive producer even after moving into the C-suite. “If it doesn’t work out, I don’t even need to get new business cards—I can just cross it out,” she says of her new president title.
But she’s committed to maintaining the CBS News legacy—and building a new one based around listening to and acting on feedback from employees—as the network recovers from the actions of its past leaders. “The tectonic plates have shifted,” she says, “and they’re never going to lock again.”