CBS News Chief Neeraj Khemlani Exits

variety.com:

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor The headlines coming out of CBS News will soon be guided by a new executive. Neeraj Khemlani, who arrived at the Paramount Global unit in 2021 to oversee CBS News and local stations along with Wendy McMahon, is leaving his role running the unit that produces “60 Minutes,” “CBS Evening News” and “Face The Nation,” among other programs.

Khemlani told CBS News staffers Sunday that he has decided to exit and will instead pursue a new multi-year first-look deal with CBS that has him developing content including books for Simon & Schuster, documentaries and scripted series.

Many senior news executives and anchors sign contracts for three years or more. Khemlani has during a two-years-plus tenure helped to rework CBS News’ morning programming; eliminate divisions between the linear news staff and CBS News streaming operations; bolster its investigative unit; and inject new talent into the famously insular division, including Robert Costa, Natalie Morales and Cecilia Vega.

Under his aegis, staffers at CBS News had been gearing up for the 2024 presidential election cycle, and had in April unveiled a new streaming program that featured a roundtable of Washington correspondents hashing out the latest political news. “We maintained the #1 position of our iconic weekend programs, successfully developed and launched business plans to grow digital revenue that will sustain CBS News for the next generation, and elevated and promoted so many of the people who work here day after day to deliver on our journalistic mission,” Khemlani said in a memo. “I’m so proud of what all of you have accomplished — the scores of journalistic wins, the superb storytelling, the creativity that enhanced every aspect of our.