Dec. 23, 2025Updated Dec. 24, 2025, 11:00 a.m. ET
NEW YORK − Maury Povich isn’t drawing a line in the sand just yet when it comes to the state of media today.
The veteran TV journalist and “king of talk TV” says he’s keeping an open mind about the major changes happening at CBS – even if he and his wife, Connie Chung, don’t agree.
Though Chung, the legendary news anchor who also cohosted “CBS Evening News,” is standing firm in her view that CBS parent company Paramount’s merger with Skydance Media and the appointment of Bari Weiss as CBS News’ editor-in-chief is wrong for journalism, her husband doesn’t see the question as black and white.
“We’re in a little discussion about that,” Povich says. “She was talking about the CBS situation and how she didn’t understand how the new ownership of Paramount could hire somebody like Bari Weiss, who had never been in television, to run their news department, and I just said: ‘Well, you don’t know. Let’s just wait and see.’ And she just jumped at me. … I was a little more open to the experience.”
But, Povich says, “she shot me down pretty quick.”
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission approved the merger between Paramount Global and Skydance Media in July, clearing the way for the $8.4 billion sale, which includes the CBS broadcast television network. The FCC agreed to transfer broadcast licenses for 28 owned-and-operated CBS television stations to the new owners after Paramount paid $16 million to settle a lawsuit filed by President Donald Trump over a “60 Minutes” interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris that aired in October. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has said the agency’s review of the proposed merger was not connected to the civil suit.
Former opinion journalist Weiss has earned criticism since her start leading CBS News amid dramatic staffing shake-ups and a network town hall with Erika Kirk that fell flat with some viewers. Povich says he’s watching it all unfold.
“You got to prove yourself one way or another. Let’s see what happens,” he tells USA TODAY. “So far, I don’t think I’ve seen a change. I watched ’60 Minutes’ – it’s all the same ’60 Minutes’ as I’ve always watched all my life. And so we’ll wait and see.”
Povich says he doesn’t “like to pass judgment. I hate knee-jerk reactions. My wife, on the other hand, is a long-standing member. She loves CBS to the hilt, and she takes great affront to what’s happening.”
Contributing: Reuters