[continued from previous message]   
      
   Nancy Chen, Janet Shamlian and Nikki Battiste, all of whom were based in   
   the United States. Additionally, the network also laid off senior   
   foreign correspondent Debora Patta, who had been with the network since   
   2013.   
      
   Patta, meanwhile, had been one of CBS News’ top reporters on the   
   Israel-Hamas War, recently filing dispatches from the ground. Marking   
   the two-year anniversary of the war, and as a fragile ceasefire   
   agreement was being negotiated, she reported on the “solemn memorial   
   events” taking place in Israel.   
      
   According to several CBS News staffers, Patta has been seen as a “very   
   fair” reporter in covering the ongoing war in Gaza, largely sticking to   
   the facts on the ground while steering clear of any emotional   
   investment. Earlier this month, for example, she did back-to-back   
   stories about a slain Israeli hostage’s mom urging leaders to end “pain   
   in our region,” and Gazans orphaned by the war longing for their lost   
   childhoods.   
      
   Patta, based at the Johannesburg bureau shuttered in the latest round of   
   cuts, was told beforehand that she was “safe” and was not supposed to be   
   laid off this week, according to three sources with knowledge of the   
   situation.   
      
   Instead, sources said that Patta saw her name added after another male   
   foreign correspondent apparently complained to Weiss – who is stridently   
   pro-Israel and describes herself as a “Zionist fanatic” – that he   
   wasn’t   
   getting enough airtime nor was deployed to cover the Gaza war because of   
   his support for Israel.   
      
   Notably, during Weiss’ first full week in her role as chief editor, she   
   sent a missive out to all news employees requesting that they send her a   
   memo describing “how you spend your working hours” and “what you’ve   
   made   
   (or are making) that you’re most proud of.”   
      
   She added in the note: “I’m also interested in hearing your views on   
   what’s working; what’s broken or substandard; and how we can be better.   
   Please be blunt – it will help me greatly.”   
      
   With the departure of Patta, who one senior staffer called “100% fair   
   and accurate” in reporting from Gaza, the network’s coverage gap in the   
   region will likely now be filled by Rome-based correspondent Chris   
   Livesay, according to multiple sources.   
      
   The Independent has reached out to Patta for comment.   
      
   CBS News producer Trey Sherman reacted to his layoff on Wednesday by   
   accusing his superior of playing favorites and helping relocate only   
   white staffers to other jobs at the network. (TikTok/@treymous)   
   CBS News producer Trey Sherman reacted to his layoff on Wednesday by   
   accusing his superior of playing favorites and helping relocate only   
   white staffers to other jobs at the network. (TikTok/@treymous)   
   More   
   As for the specter of the network laying off only women on-air   
   personalities on Wednesday, four of whom are people of color, it   
   prompted the remaining staff members to express their disgust at the   
   optics. “It is pretty appalling,” one network employee told The   
   Independent. (John Dickerson, the current co-anchor of CBS Evening News,   
   announced on Monday that he was departing the network at the end of the   
   year.)   
      
   At the same time, Trey Sherman – a former associate producer on CBS   
   Evening News Plus – took to social media on Wednesday to accuse his   
   superiors of playing favorites in the layoffs, specifically around the   
   issue of race.   
      
   Shortly after it was revealed that CBS Evening News Plus was canceled   
   and the majority of its team had been let go, Sherman – who is Black and   
   part of the LGBTQ community – posted a story to his Instagram account   
   claiming that “every producer who was laid off on my team is a person of   
   color” while “every producer on my team who will be relocated within the   
   company is white.”   
      
   Sherman would go into further detail about his allegations in a   
   follow-up video on TikTok, asserting that he had spoken to the executive   
   in charge of the show about whether there was “consideration” about   
   moving the program’s staff to other CBS News positions.   
      
   “He said, we advocated to keep the show. We advocated to try to get you   
   relocated somewhere else, and we couldn’t,” Sherman said, referencing   
   the head of special events and streaming, David Reiter.   
      
   According to Sherman, he then went to his white colleagues and began   
   asking them whether they had been laid off, “only to find out it was   
   only the people of color.” He added that while it wasn’t Reiter’s   
   decision to eliminate the show, “but he did get to decide who got to stay.”   
      
   “I told him, you said you couldn’t get us relocated, only to find out   
   you were able to get some people relocated, and they all happened to be   
   white. Am I supposed to believe that’s a coincidence? And he said   
   ‘yes,’” Sherman continued, noting that Reiter said he chose to keep   
   people he had worked with before.   
      
   “So not only is it not based on merit,” Sherman concluded. “It is, in   
   its result, racist. I don’t care if you decided to keep people who had   
   purple-colored hair. You decided to keep people you had worked with   
   before, which I don’t even know if that’s true. If the outcome of the   
   action was racist, that sh*t is f***ed.”   
      
   Sherman declined to comment, noting that he is seeking legal advice   
   before further speaking about this matter publicly.   
      
   Meanwhile, the brutal layoffs in the newsroom and the prospect of   
   further cuts down the road have led to plummeting staff morale, which   
   has only been exacerbated by Weiss’ fledgling tenure and Ellison’s   
   simultaneous spending spree to build onto his burgeoning empire.   
      
   While the 42-year-old media mogul – whose father is Oracle founder and   
   close Trump ally Larry Ellison – looks to cut $2 billion from   
   Paramount’s ledger and lay off thousands of employees, he has spent   
   billions of dollars on luring the UFC and other media assets to his   
   company while aggressively attempting a costly takeover of rival Warner   
   Bros. Discovery.   
      
   View comments(368)   
      
   EMPTYUU   
   12 hours ago   
   She was hired to "Drain the swamp", so they say. Ratings have steadily   
   been plummeting for mainstream media and rightfully so. The more   
   intelligent companies are now making course corrections to keep their   
   programs afloat.   
      
   jim   
   14 hours ago   
   NYT.  Bat Mitzvah.  Columbia U grad.  Gay.  Sure sounds MAGA to me.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)