Mary Hagerthe longtime political-news guru and behind-the-scenes force at CBS News and its Sunday public-affairs program, “Face the Nation,” will retire from the program in January, according to two people familiar with the matter.
Hager informed colleagues at CBS News of her decision on Wednesday, these people say, in order to give the Skydance news division time to search for a replacement. There is no obvious successor for Hager in her producer role at “Nation” at this time, largely because Anne Hsu, who was named the program’s executive producer in 2025is moving to a new role within CBS News, according to the people familiar with the program.
CBS News declined to make executives available for comment. The media-industry newsletter Status previously reported on her decision. Hager could not be reached for immediate comment.
Hager is seen as a force at CBS News, and has been the guiding presence at “Face the Nation” during the tenures of moderators Bob Schieffer, John Dickerson and Margaret Brennan. She covered nearly every presidential campaign, convention and election night over the past 30 years at CBS News, in capacities that range from embed to anchor producer to executive producer of midterm coverage. She also spent more than 15 years as CBS News chief Washington correspondent Bob Schieffer’s producer.
And while she ran or helped run “Face The Nation” since 2011 as a senior producer, executive producer and senior executive producer, she also served in other capacities. Since 2022, she was also CBS News’ executive editor for politics.
In recent years, Hager placed emphasis on the quality of newsmaker bookings and discussions at “Nation,” in a belief that audiences were growing tired of some of the theatrics at the networks’ Sunday mainstays. “I think Sunday shows are getting further away from spin, and I think we are still doing a better job at kind of what we have always been trying to focus on — what is important for viewers, what the takeaways are, what they can learn, as opposed to putting the boxing gloves on and yelling back and forth,” she told Variety in 2019.
During the coronavirus pandemic, Hager helped transform the program into a reliable forum for medical information, dropping some of the political-news segments and turning instead to a medical expert, Scott Gottlieb, a former FDA commissioner. With Brennan on maternity leave for a few months, and John Dickerson filling in, “Nation” featured Gottlieb so many times that he became one of the most frequent non-journalist guests in the program’s history. At the time only Senator John McCain had been on “Nation” more times overall.
She will leave “Nation” as the show is faring well in the ratings. Season to date as of November 8, “Face The Nation” has won more viewers than either NBC’s “Meet The Press” or ABC’s “This Week.” And while it has lost some viewership compared to last season, the show has seen a surge among viewers between 26 and 54, the demographic coveted most by advertisers — and leads its rivals in that category as well.
Hager’s departure surfaces while the management of CBS News under a new owner, Skydance, has come under scrutiny. Since Skydance took over the company once known as Paramount and appointed Bari Weiss, a former digital entrepreneur and opinion journalist, as editor in chief, a number of prominent anchors and producers have chosen to exit. CBS News has also seen layoffs, with some staffers still mulling over buyout offers.
Hager’s retirement was said to be planned, according to people familiar with the matter, and not due to pressure or differences in vision. Even so, her absence from CBS News will be hard to fill in weeks to come.
Source: variety.com
