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Another high-profile journalist is leaving CBS News.

Scott MacFarlane, the network’s justice correspondent, announced Monday he is leaving the network in a note to colleagues that he later shared on social media.

MacFarlane wrote, “To my incredible colleagues at CBS: I want to personally let you know that my work will soon no longer appear on CBS News. This is my decision, and I appreciate the bosses at CBS for understanding it. I will always value the opportunity I had to work alongside the talented and committed professionals here. I’m proud to have had the words ‘CBS correspondent’ next to my name – always will be. For the next phase of my career, I look forward to some independence and finding new spaces to share my work in line with my personal goals. I thank you all.  The work will not stop, and I’ll always be a call away.”

As Mediaite’s Charlie Nash noted, “MacFarlane joined CBS News as a correspondent in 2021 and rose to prominence at the network with his coverage of the aftermath of the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot.”

It’s another departure in the wake of Bari Weiss taking over as editor-in-chief of CBS News, although it’s not known publicly if MacFarlane’s leaving had anything to do with Weiss or the supposed direction of her news division.

But it is interesting that MacFarlane was known for his Jan. 6 coverage. The Guardian’s Jeremy Barr tweeted Monday, “I’m told that Bari Weiss acknowledged on the network’s 9 a.m. call that MacFarlane generated several scoops for CBS (though it was known that MacFarlane was unhappy with the network’s very brief mention of the Jan. 6 anniversary on the CBS Evening News).”

In his Status media newsletter, Oliver Darcy wrote, “Multiple people familiar with the matter told Status that MacFarlane had grown disillusioned with the overall direction of the network under the anti-woke warrior Weiss, who since being appointed by David Ellison in October has sought to put the venerable news outlet on better footing with Donald Trump and his administration.”

Darcy, too, mentioned how little play the anniversary of Jan. 6 had on the “CBS Evening News.”

MacFarlane becomes the latest notable journalist to leave CBS News under Weiss.

Late last year, “CBS Evening News” co-anchor and longtime (16 years) correspondent John Dickerson announced he was leaving. That came not long after Weiss took over as editor-in-chief. At the time, an unnamed CBS staffer told The Washington Post, “Hard to see one of the network’s smartest fully leaving and not think it’s related to Bari.”

Then, last month, CBS News saw two more high-profile departures. Anderson Cooper announced he was leaving his correspondent’s role on “60 Minutes” — a position he had held since the 2006-07 season. Cooper, who continues to host a prime-time program on CNN, said he was giving up his “60 Minutes” job to spend more time with family.

In addition to Cooper, “CBS Evening News” producer Alicia Hastey also announced that she was leaving the network.

Covering war

How do The New York Times and other major news organizations report on the war in Iran?

The Times published an interesting story on Monday discussing that very question. Mike Abrams, the deputy editor for trust at the Times, spoke with Adrienne Carter, a senior editor on the Times’ International desk who is leading the paper’s war coverage from London.

Carter said, “You’re trying to figure out who you’re going to need on the ground; who you’re going to need for breaking news; who you’re going to need for deeper coverage; how are we going to work with photo, video, audio, graphics. We shift resources to ensure that we can cover the totality of the conflict.”

But making this story more challenging is that it’s Iran — a place that’s difficult to get journalists into. Abrams said in the piece that the Times currently doesn’t have anyone inside the country.

Carter said, “We have a team of reporters, many of whom speak Persian. Many have been there or lived there. They tap into every connection — government sources and other contacts they met and developed over the years. They’re also trying to get an understanding from ordinary people who live there. Every time there’s a major news event, you end up calling hundreds of people in the hopes that you can talk to one. And that’s assuming (the) internet and phones are working in Iran, where they are often shut down by the government at sensitive times. Visual material is also very important in moments like this. Verified visual material. We work very closely with our Visual Investigations team to see what user-generated content and satellite imagery is out there. It’s complicated. It’s one of the hardest places in the world to report on.”

Check out Abrams’ story for more details about the challenges and concerns of covering a war.

Notable journalism regarding Iran

• The New York Times’ Erika Solomon with “Iran’s Choice of New Leader Signals Defiance to Foes.”
• More from the Times. It’s Rebecca F. Elliott with “‘The Old Game Is Back’: Oil Is a Potent Geopolitical Tool Again.”
• The Washington Post’s Max Boot with “There are two winners in Iran. Neither one is America.”
• The Los Angeles Times’ Alex Wigglesworth, Hailey Branson-Potts and Hannah Fry with “‘What is the mission?’ With Iran, California military families fear another ‘forever war.’”
• The Atlantic’s Shane Harris with “A Mysterious Code Is Being Broadcast on Shortwave Radio. Is It Iran?”
• From Poynter’s PolitiFact, Louis Jacobson and Zoe Weyand with “Is a new military draft coming after Karoline Leavitt’s comments? Why it’s unlikely.”
• The Associated Press’ David Bauder and Lou Kesten with “White House war promo videos marry action movies, sports and video games to real-life combat footage.”

Hmm, interesting hire

This feels like a bit of an odd match.

Piers Morgan, who went from newspaper editor to CNN prime-time host to provocative TV host in the United Kingdom, has hired former MSNBC president Rashida Jones as CEO of his company, Uncensored.

The Hollywood Reporter’s Alex Weprin wrote, “Morgan is known for his incisive questioning of guests and a point-of-view on politics that does not fit neatly into the boxes that define much of traditional media, where places like Jones’ former home MSNBC and Fox News (Morgan’s show has also streamed on Fox Nation) tend to program talent with predictable perspectives.”

The hiring coincides with Morgan’s company raising fresh capital from a trio of investors. Reports are that “Uncensored” was looking for about $30 million in its latest round of investments.

Weprin wrote, “Uncensored began with Morgan’s YouTube show, ‘Piers Morgan Uncensored,’ and recently launched a second show, ‘History Uncensored,’ led by former CNN anchor Bianca Nobilo. Morgan’s show also airs on TV through Paramount’s Channel 5 in the U.K.”

In a statement, Morgan said, “The ambition for Uncensored has always been to build a global home for fearless, high-engagement content that cuts through the noise. Today’s announcements will help us create exactly that. Rashida Jones is one of the sharpest minds in media and her track record of building and transforming businesses speaks for itself. She has impressed me enormously with her enthusiasm and vision for the Uncensored brand. With this bold, unapologetic, and dynamic leader, plus the backing of an incredible group of investors led by Raine Ventures and Antenna Group, we are now positioned to create one of the biggest new media entities in the world.”

Meanwhile, it’s a new job for Jones, who was president of MSNBC from 2020 to 2025. She left as the network prepared for its split from Comcast, and later became MS NOW.

In a statement, Jones said, “Piers developed an incredible platform with Uncensored that’s already going head-to-head with legacy media. In today’s fragmented media world, audiences are craving real conversations grounded in authenticity, rigor, and open debate. Uncensored not only delivers that—it’s ahead of the curve. I can’t wait to roll up my sleeves with Piers and the team to build on the strong foundation they created and scale it into a diverse and profitable network that champions talent and dominates the biggest categories.”

Out of the race?

ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith, shown here during Super Bowl week last month in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

So, if ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith truly ever considered running for president (yes, of the United States), he now says it’s probably not happening.

Why? Money, of course.

Appearing on Sean Hannity’s podcast, Smith looks like he’s backing off from whatever aspirations he might have had about being president. Hannity told Smith that he didn’t think the ESPN host would run for president.

And Smith said, “I don’t think I’m running either, because I gotta give up my money. I ain’t giving up my money, Sean. Sean, I ain’t giving up my money. I can tell you right now, let me put the presidential aspirations to bed. If I have to give up my money, it’s not happening.”

Smith recently signed a five-year, $100-million deal with ESPN.

Then again, this is the talk that seems to surround Smith. One minute, it looks like he really is thinking about running for president, and the next, he throws water on it. When “CBS News Sunday Morning” profiled him last month, Smith told correspondent Robert Costa, “I will confess to you, I’m giving strong consideration to being on that debate stage for 2027. I’ve got this year coming up in 2026, to think about it, to study, to know the issues.”

And Costa later tweeted, “Stephen A. Smith is moving closer to a 2028 campaign…   spending a few days with him in recent months reminded me of spending a few days with Trump back in 2013-2014. Many laughed at the prospect of a bid. But in an age of celebrity and social media…”

As Awful Announcing’s Brandon Contes wrote, “The only thing Smith has truly confirmed about any potential run for president is the fact that he can’t help himself from keeping his name in the conversation. Sure, Smith confirmed to Hannity he won’t be running for president this week, but that won’t stop him from teasing enough interest in the idea of running to manufacture new headlines next week. Because of the idea of running for president, Smith flip-flops back and forth, as any presidential candidate ever has.”

Honestly, it’s hard to imagine Smith running simply because he seemingly spends all of his time either on ESPN or preparing to be on ESPN.

Contes added, “It’s not going to happen. For all of his political commentary, Smith hasn’t even shared a defined platform he’d be willing to run on. Smith isn’t running for president in 2028. That might not rule him out of running in 2032 or beyond, because even Donald Trump teased presidential bids at least three times over several decades before he actually ran in 2016. But regardless of whether Smith eventually takes running for president seriously, you can guarantee he’ll keep breadcrumbing whenever he wants to make some news.”

Adding to their roster

One of the heartbreaking things about the massive layoffs at The Washington Post was the elimination of the sports department — always among the best sports sections in the country, and a real strength of the Post.

As if we didn’t already know, there is now even more evidence of just how talented that department was.

Last month, The Athletic announced it was hiring six former members of the Post’s sports department.

Then, on Monday, ESPN announced that it was hiring six sportswriters laid off by the Post. They are Kent Babb, Kareem Copeland, Chuck Culpepper, Robert Klemko, Tom Schad and Ben Strauss. They will cover various topics at ESPN. Here are the details.

All are outstanding, but I did want to mention three of them specifically. First, Klemko was part of the Post team that won the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting for “American Icon,” a series examining the rise of the AR-15.

Culpepper mostly covered college sports, and I’m not sure there was a better college feature and game story writer in the country.

And Strauss is a name that you’ve seen often in his newsletter. He covered sports media for the Post, and I often linked to his insightful stories, particularly profiles, about the sports media business.

So it’s good to see those former Post sportswriters end up in a good spot.

This, however, needs to be pointed out: While it’s great to see some of the Post’s talented journalists scooped up by other news organizations, they are just a small fraction of the reporters who were laid off. The Post laid off hundreds in the newsroom and most have not been so fortunate.

Media tidbits

• Nieman Lab’s Laura Hazard Owen with “A lot of journalism folks are offering editing advice as Grammarly’s AI ‘experts.’”
• For Columbia Journalism Review, Joel Simon with “Inside the Legal Defense of Georgia Fort and Don Lemon.”
• My Poynter colleague Kristen Hare with “What are your favorite nonfiction books by journalists?”

Hot type

• The New York Times’ Michael Wilson with “Lucky, Heroic, Profane: The Story of N.Y.P.D. Shield No. 13558.”
• I just learned that there’s a new Oscar category this year: Best Casting. So leave it to The Ringer staff to go back and do it for the past 25 years. So enjoy this fun piece: “The Ringer’s Best Casting Awards.”

More resources for journalists

• Great Lakes journalists: Time running out to apply for FREE election coverage workshops in Detroit and Indy — work on coverage strategies, gain reporting tools and spark regional connections. Apply now.
• New editors: Get guidance from industry veterans and build the skills you need to become indispensable to your newsroom. Apply now.
• Audit your crime coverage, implement a sustainable newsroom policy and learn to do more meaningful work with fewer resources. Limited time left to apply.

Have feedback or a tip? Email Poynter senior media writer Tom Jones at tjones@poynter.org.

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