As an executive who once supervised CBS News, Wendy McMahon made frequent appearances in “Status,” the media-industry newsletter written by Oliver Darcy and published via the platform called beehiiv. Now McMahon may have a say in how beehiiv proceeds in the not-too-distant future.
McMahon, who spent four years running CBS’ stations, syndication arm and national news operations, will take up an advisory and consultant role with beehiiv, working with its CEO and co-founder, Tyler Denk. In an interview, McMahon says she intends to keep working on business models she hopes will push the media industry.
“This industry has given me a lot, and I feel a deep responsibility to help shape its future. It is undeniably in the middle of a transformation. It absolutely needs to evolve,” she tells Variety. “The moment demands both innovation and integrity.”
McMahon tried to have both at CBS. In her last months at the company, now controlled by Skydance Media, she introduced a handful of new programming formats while trying to preserve the credibility of venerable shows like “60 Minutes.” The long-running CBS News magazine program found itself at the center of a lawsuit from President Donald Trump that many legal experts found meritless. When corporate owner Paramount moved to settle the matter, widely seen as a bid to preserve the sale of the company to Skydance Media, McMahon left.
“It’s become clear that the company and I do not agree on the path forward,” McMahon said in a memo when she left CBS in May. “It’s time for me to move on and for this organization to move forward with new leadership. I have spent the last few months shoring up our businesses and making sure the right leaders are in place; and I have no doubt they will continue to set the standard.”
During her CBS tenure, McMahon worked rapidly to combine the newsgathering forces of CBS’ local stations and its national unit. A new streaming program introduced during her tenure relied on a “whip around” format that took viewers to breaking stories in various markets where CBS personnel were covering them. A radical reshaping of “CBS Evening News” put more spotlight on enterprise and feature reporting, rather than breaking news — and relied on an unorthodox, two-anchor format. The maneuvers were viewed as ways to make better use of CBS’ journalism assets but were also seen as a means to save money on such high-priced items as news-anchor salaries in an era when Paramount has become much more conscious about costs.
McMahon says she remains “proud of what we were trying to build at CBS News and Stations,” and has turned her eye to what independent journalists and the new platforms they use might accomplish.
She is ready to utilize her knowledge of how TV operates to help independent outlets making increasing use of video podcasts and YouTube. McMahon worked her way from studying broadcast journalism at Louisiana State University to marketing stations in Savannah, Austin, Minneapolis and Boston. After a stint working for CBS properties, McMahon moved to ABC, first working at KABC in Los Angeles, then managing digital content and product technology for all the TV stations owned by the Disney-backed broadcaster. In 2017, she became president of the stations group.
An era may be drawing closer, McMahon says, when upstart outlets and established players start to team up more readily. “I think the future requires a shared perspective between established players and the emerging creators. I think we are increasingly going to see journalists who live in all spaces. They are contributors to CBS News, ABC News, CNN, NBC News” but also have their own direct contact with followers through a newsletter or podcast. “I think that’s going to be the future of it. It’s not an ‘either-or,’ but a ‘yes-and’.”
Some traditional companies have already begun to focus more intently on creators. Fox Corp. acquired Red Seat Ventures, a production company that helps digitally-focused personalities including Megyn Kelly and Tucker Carlson who have abandoned mainstream outlets. Some of the people Red Seat works with have begun to turn up on Fox properties like Fox One or Fox News Channel.
While acknowledging “the business model surrounding journalism is in a state of flux,” McMahon thinks technology can serve “as an enabler versus a threat.” Her role at beehiiv is just one she hopes to have in weeks to come.
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