Christy Tanner, one of CBS News’ top streaming executives, is leaving the company after eight years. Tanner announced her exit Thursday morning.
Tanner, who joined CBS News during the advent of the streaming era, is one of the architects of CBSN, the company’s free streaming news channel. In her role as executive vice president and general manager of CBS News Digital, Tanner oversaw CBS News across all digital platforms, including CBSNews.com.
Tanner is the latest high-ranking female executive to leave ViacomCBS in the last few months. CBS News EVP Kim Godwin, a leading Black news executive, left the network to lead rival ABC News in April. TheWrap also learned that Stefanie Schwartz, the EVP of ViacomCBS Digital Studios; Nathalie Bordes, the SVP of data and insights at CBS Interactive; and Sarah Jeon, the EVP of business development and strategic partnerships at ViacomCBS Digital, have all left the company in recent months.
The departures have raised questions about the network’s ability to retain women and diverse talent at a critical time of change for media companies.
“I wanted to share with you that Christy Tanner has decided to leave ViacomCBS,” CBS CEO George Cheeks said in an internal memo on Thursday. “Christy and her world-class team have established CBS News Digital as the marketplace leader in streaming news innovation, expanding our breaking news, editorial and reporting capabilities while continually setting growth records. I am grateful to Christy for leading my deep dive on CBS News Digital and continuing to make it a crucial part of our overall news offering.”
Tanner added: “It’s been eight years since I joined CBS Interactive, five years since I joined CBS News Digital, and … never years since I took some solid time off. The fact is I haven’t wanted to miss a minute of the incredible opportunity it has been to work with you – building CBSN into the leading streaming news service, transforming CBS News Digital into a powerhouse and establishing news as a pillar of CBS All Access, Paramount+ and Pluto.”
CBSN was launched in 2014 is a global news streaming network and has since branched out to localized versions in major cities like Los Angeles, New York and Chicago. Earlier this week, CBS announced the launch of CBSN Sacramento.
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