CBS News is now mandating that reporters use the phrase “biological sex at birth”—without quotation marks—when covering transgender athletes, a dramatic shift from the network’s previous guidance that aligned with journalism standards for covering trans people.
WHAT’S GOING ON: Tom Burke, CBS News’ senior director of standards and practices, sent a memo Tuesday instructing staff to adopt the language when describing arguments from West Virginia and Idaho defending their bans on trans athletes competing in women’s sports. The case is currently before the Supreme Court.
This reverses guidance Burke himself issued just months ago. In November, he recommended following the Trans Journalists Association’s style guide, which states that “assigned sex at birth is preferable over biological sex” outside of medical literature.
Now? “No quotes needed” on a term that trans advocates and many journalists consider scientifically misleading.
THE DETAILS: The internal debate at CBS has been messy. Jan Crawford, the network’s chief legal correspondent, pushed back against the TJA guidance, arguing courts still use “biological sex” and that CBS shouldn’t adopt “terminology advocated by the movement.”
Nicole Cutrona, a producer for “CBS Evening News,” had previously called the phrase a “transphobic dog whistle” and responded directly to Crawford: “I continue to believe our continued use of the term ‘biological sex’ illustrates our organization’s ignorance about topics involving sex and gender.”
Burke’s response? He said the standards team would “review the guidance.” Apparently, that review landed firmly in Crawford’s camp.
OF COURSE: This is all happening under the watch of Bari Weiss, the fascist and Zionist Free Press co-founder who became CBS News’ editor in chief last October after Paramount acquired her outlet.
Weiss has already made waves—killing a “60 Minutes” segment on Trump’s immigration crackdown hours before broadcast and telling staff that changes were necessary to “earn back” audience trust.
“The standards for fairness we are holding ourselves to, particularly on contentious subjects, will surely feel controversial to those used to doing things one way,” Weiss wrote to staffers. Translation: get used to it.
WHY IT MATTERS: Language shapes coverage. Using “biological sex at birth” as a neutral descriptor—without quotation marks to signal it’s a contested term—implicitly validates the framing pushed by lawmakers seeking to exclude trans people from public life. It’s not a minor style tweak. It’s a newsroom choosing sides while pretending it’s just being “fair.”
The change went into effect immediately. A CBS story published Tuesday after Supreme Court oral arguments already used the phrase without quotes.
BOTTOM LINE: CBS News, under Weiss, is redefining what counts as “objective” journalism—and that definition is shifting rightward, fast. A network producer called it what it is. Leadership chose to ignore her.