CBS News has been under siege since Bari Weiss took over in October.
The radical leftists inside and outside the network have been in full meltdown mode.
And CBS News just ditched its transgender style guide for biological reality with one memo that has activists fuming.
CBS News adopts 'biological sex at birth' after ditching Trans Journalists Association guide
CBS News senior director of standards Tom Burke sent out a memo Tuesday that made trans activists and their media allies lose their minds.
The network will now use the term "biological sex at birth" when covering transgender issues.
No quotation marks needed.
This came ahead of Supreme Court hearings on state bans of biological males competing in women's sports, and it represents a complete 180 from the network's previous surrender to activist pressure.
For years, CBS News followed guidance from the Trans Journalists Association, an activist group masquerading as a journalism organization.
The TJA's style guide demanded reporters use "sex assigned at birth" instead of "biological sex."
Their reasoning? Using accurate biological terminology is what "opponents of transgender rights" do.
CBS legal correspondent Jan Crawford pushed back hard against adopting activist language.
"We should refrain from adopting terminology advocated by the movement," Crawford wrote in an email obtained by The Wrap.
She wanted CBS to stick with "biological sex" instead of caving to ideological pressure.
A producer shot back defending the Trans Journalists Association: "It's a TJA style 'guide' – that's what I'm trying to do. Guide us to better coverage."
That producer apparently thinks "better coverage" means parroting activist talking points word-for-word rather than reporting facts.
AP Style Guide and Trans Journalists Association pushed 'assigned sex at birth' terminology
The Associated Press set the standard for journalistic malpractice back in 2023.
Their style guide instructed reporters to avoid "biological sex" entirely.
The AP literally told journalists to pretend biology doesn't exist because it might offend transgender activists.
"Avoid terms like biological sex, along with biological male and biological female," the 2023 AP Style Guide read.
The guide claimed these terms are "sometimes used by opponents of transgender rights" to reference someone's actual sex.
You know, the thing determined by chromosomes that has existed since humans first appeared on Earth.
The Trans Journalists Association goes even further down the rabbit hole.
Their style guide warns against "deadnaming" (using someone's real name) and instructs reporters to avoid any reference to biological facts.
Terms like "mutilation," "sterilization," and "social contagion" are dismissed as "misinformation" according to the TJA.
Never mind that surgeons are literally removing healthy body parts from confused teenagers.
The TJA claims phrases like "biological men" or "biological females" invoke a person's "assigned sex at birth as their 'real' gender."
Notice "real" in quotes, as if biological reality is negotiable.
Bari Weiss overhauls CBS News editorial standards amid Supreme Court transgender athlete case
This policy shift is just the latest in Weiss's complete overhaul of CBS News since taking over as editor-in-chief.
Weiss, who founded The Free Press and built it to 170,000 paid subscribers, arrived at CBS in October with a mandate from Paramount CEO David Ellison.
Her mission: restore trust in journalism by ditching activist framing for actual reporting.
The biological sex terminology change came as the Supreme Court heard arguments in cases challenging West Virginia and Idaho laws banning transgender athletes from women's sports.
CBS correspondent Jan Crawford used the phrase "biological sex at birth" in her on-air Supreme Court coverage Wednesday.
CBS staffers have been in near-constant revolt since Weiss arrived.
The network's union pushed back after Weiss asked employees to explain their job duties.
Liberal media commentators have attacked every move she's made.
The criticism reached a fever pitch in December when Weiss pulled a 60 Minutes segment about Venezuelan deportees sent to an El Salvador prison.
Correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi claimed the decision was "political, not editorial."
Weiss fired back that the story wasn't ready because it lacked administration comment and didn't advance beyond what other outlets already reported.
Trump had publicly complained about 60 Minutes hitting him under the new ownership, making the decision even more controversial.
But Weiss held firm: "Our viewers come first. Not the listing schedule or anything else."
She's also brought conservative newsmakers and Trump administration officials onto CBS programs.
Weiss moderated a town hall with Erika Kirk, Charlie Kirk's widow, that mainstream advertisers wouldn't touch.
Bank of America eventually signed on as a sponsor for the series, now called "Things That Matter."
The biological sex terminology change shows Weiss isn't backing down despite the pressure.
CBS News enjoyed the backing of 51% of Americans who trust information from national news organizations, according to a September 2024 Pew Research study.
That put CBS on par with CNN and PBS.
But overall trust in media has cratered – just 28% of Americans have a "great deal" or "fair amount" of trust in newspapers, TV, and radio according to Gallup.
Weiss and her team wrote in a December memo that "the majority of Americans say they do not trust the press."
"It isn't because they're crazy," the memo stated.
Returning to biological reality instead of activist fantasy is one small step toward rebuilding that trust.
Sources:
- Lindsay Kornick, "CBS News updates transgender term guidelines to include 'biological sex at birth': report," Fox News, January 15, 2026.
- Maxwell Tani, "CBS News Changes Guidance on Trans Athletes to Refer to 'Biological Sex at Birth,'" The Wrap, January 14, 2026.
- "CBS News Abandons Pro-Trans Style Guide In Favor Of Biological Reality," The Daily Caller, January 14, 2026.
- Brian Stelter, "Inside the Bari Weiss decision that led to a '60 Minutes' crisis," CNN Business, December 22, 2025.
- "Bari Weiss' CBS News Gaffes Pile Up as Paramount Tries to Woo Warner," Variety, December 23, 2025.