CBS News has updated its style guidelines regarding transgender individuals to use the term “biological sex at birth,” according to a new report.
According to The Wrap, Tom Burke, the network’s senior director of standards and practices, sent out a memo informing the organization that the network “will use the term biological sex at birth” with “no quotes needed.” The memo reportedly came ahead of reports on Supreme Court hearings about challenges to state bans on transgender athletes taking part in women’s sports.
The news also followed reports that a “prominent correspondent” at the network, later reported to be Jan Crawford, wrote in an email that CBS News “should refrain from adopting terminology advocated by the movement.”
CBS NEWS STAFFERS RECEIVE NEW MARCHING ORDERS, URGED TO TREAT DEMOCRATS AND REPUBLICANS EQUALLY
Fox News Digital reached out to CBS News for comment.
Reports on CBS News’ website written since Tuesday have been using the term “biological sex at birth” when covering news about the Supreme Court hearings.
“If a student’s sex is disputed, the law requires the athlete to provide a health examination and consent form that verifies their biological sex at birth,” one report from Tuesday read.
BARI WEISS’ CRITICS INSIDE CBS NEWS FALL INTO TWO DISTINCT CAMPS, NETWORK INSIDER SAYS
Another report said, “The justices heard more than three hours of arguments in a pair of cases challenging laws from West Virginia and Idaho that require public school and collegiate sports teams to be designated based on biological sex at birth and restrict transgender girls and women from competing on teams that correspond with their gender identity.”
Crawford, the network’s legal correspondent, also used the phrase “biological sex at birth” for her on-air report on the Supreme Court cases on Wednesday.
The move marked a departure from previous media style guidelines. In 2023, The AP Style Guide from the Associated Press instructed journalists to avoid phrases like “both sexes” and use the term “sex assigned at birth” instead of “biological sex.”
CBS ABRUPTLY OUSTS ‘EVENING NEWS’ SENIOR PRODUCER JUST DAYS INTO BROADCAST REVAMP
“Avoid terms like biological sex, along with biological male and biological female, which opponents of transgender rights sometimes use to refer to transgender women and transgender men, respectively,” the style guide read.
CBS News has made significant editorial changes since top editor Bari Weiss was installed by Paramount chief David Ellison in October, drawing intense criticism from liberal media commentators.
The Fox News Channel (FNC), often referred to as Fox News, is an American multinational conservative news and political commentary television channel and website based in New York City. Owned by the Fox News Media subsidiary of Fox Corporation, as of 2022, it is the most-watched cable news network in the United States, and as of 2023, it generates approximately 70% of its parent company's pre-tax profit. The channel broadcasts primarily from studios at 1211 Avenue of the Americas in Midtown Manhattan. Fox News provides service to 86 countries and territories, with international broadcasts featuring Fox Extra segments during advertising breaks.
Last updated from