CBS News issued a scathing rebuke of a New York Post story published on Thursday that suggested Norah O’Donnell, the network’s top anchor, took a major pay cut when she signed a new deal with the outlet this spring.
The Post reported that O’Donnell had signed a deal in April with a yearly salary of $3.8 million — down from $8 million during her previous contract.
“Wrong again. [CBS President Neeraj Khemlani] led the effort to retain and re-sign about a dozen of our biggest anchors and correspondents over the last year including Norah O’Donnell and Gayle King — and recruited a few new ones like Nate Burleson and Robert Costa,” a spokesperson for the network said. “While there are huge prime time openings elsewhere in the News industry, CBS News has the No. 1 news broadcasts and finished the season with multiple shows including morning and evenings in their most competitive position ever.”
“The more false stories the NY Post writes, the better things go for CBS News,” the spokesperson added.
O’Donnell signed a new deal to remain with the network as the anchor and managing editor of its evening newscast. CBS has not publicly disclosed the terms of the deal, as is standard practice across the industry.
At the time, Khemlani said CBS Evening News has “stood out in the news landscape for its range of reporting, award-winning journalism and exclusive investigations, as well as its proximity to events in Washington where Norah’s political reporting background enhances our nightly and breaking news coverage.”
Multiple news outlets reported earlier this year that anchor Brian Williams turned down an offer to anchor “CBS Evening News,” after departing MSNBC, where he hosted a late-night news and politics program.
CBS has made a number of key hires in recent months, including Nate Burleson to join Gayle King as a host on “CBS This Morning,” Robert Costa as a national political reporter and former White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney as a contributor, the latter of which has reportedly been met with some pushback from staffers within the network.