Letter to CBS Reporters and Staff Who Were Fired Today

To the Reporters and Staff of CBS News and CBS News Radio,

What happened today is not just a business decision. It’s not just another round of layoffs dressed up in corporate language about “strategy” and “economic realities.”

It is a betrayal.

For nearly a century, CBS News and CBS News Radio represented something foundational in American journalism — the idea that facts matter, that truth travels, that voices from the field deserve to be heard by millions.

You carried forward a legacy built by journalists who risked everything to inform the public. And today, that legacy was dismantled with a memo.

Seven hundred stations. Entire teams eliminated. Careers uprooted in a single announcement.

And let’s be honest about what’s really happening here. This isn’t just about layoffs. This is about control.

It’s about reshaping media institutions into something safer for those in power — less independent, less adversarial, more compliant.

What once served the public is being hollowed out and refashioned into something that looks like journalism but is actually state-regime media.

You are not the ones who failed. This is part of a broader authoritarian attack on journalism.

You showed up every day — through elections, wars, crises, and chaos — and did the work that matters.

You told the stories that needed to be told. And now you’re being told that your work no longer fits the “new direction.”

But here’s the truth they don’t want you to fully realize:

You don’t need them anymore.

The gatekeepers are collapsing.

The old model is breaking. And something new is being built — in real time.

At MeidasTouch, we’ve seen what happens when journalists, creators, and truth-tellers take control of their own platforms.

We’ve seen how quickly audiences respond to authenticity, courage, and independence.

We’ve built a network that reaches millions by standing up to authoritarianism and reporting fearlessly.

And we are just getting started.

To every reporter, producer, editor, and staff member affected today: you have the skills, the credibility, and the voice to build something powerful on your own terms.

Whether it’s Substack, YouTube, podcasts, or entirely new formats — the future of journalism is not locked behind corporate walls anymore.

And you are not alone in this transition.

We are here to help. We are here to collaborate. We are here to build with you.

Because what’s being lost today at CBS isn’t journalism — it’s just one outdated structure that could no longer contain it.

The work continues. The mission continues. And frankly, it gets stronger from here.

But building that future requires support.

If you believe in independent media, and if you believe journalists should not be silenced or discarded, and if you believe we need platforms that challenge power instead of serving it, then now is the time to step up.

To everyone reading this, please subscribe to this Substack. Support. Share. Be part of this movement.

Because while they are shutting things down, we are building something unstoppable.