Media Maneuvers

Les Moonves

CBS is offering a buyout deal of $100 million in stock to CEO Les Moonves, according to report on CNBC. Under the terms of his contract, Moonves would get up to $180 million in severance, as well as a production deal with the company. The discrepancy between the $100 million and $180 million is due to the CBS board’s desire to hold onto $80 million to help pay compensation claims if the sexual harassment charges pending against Mooves are confirmed. Forbes says that there is talk of COO Joe Ianniello stepping into Moonves’ role as an interim replacement. Following the initial news of Moonves’ possible exit, CBS shares closed up 3.1 percent Thursday, to $54.62.

Toby Harnden

The Washington Examiner is bringing on Toby Harnden as managing editor, effective October 1. Harnden joins the paper from the Sunday Times, of London, where he was Washington bureau chief. Before that, he served as US editor for both the Daily Mail and Daily Telegraph, where he was also Middle East corespondent. He is also the author of several books, including Dead Men Rise: The Welsh Guards and the Defining Story of Britain’s War in Afghanistan. Harnden replaces Philip Klein, who has been the Examiner’s managing editor since 2015. Klein moves into the executive editor slot, and will mainly focus on writing.

Zanny Minton Beddoes

Steve Bannon may no longer be welcome at The New Yorker Festival, but he is still on the lineup for The Economist’s Open Future Festival on Sept. 15. Economist editor-in-chief Zanny Minton Beddoes issued an open letter on Tuesday to explain her reasons for inviting Bannon, and for allowing that invitation to stand. “Mr. Bannon stands for a world view that is antithetical to the liberal values The Economist has always espoused,” Beddoes says in the letter. “We asked him to take part because his populist nationalism is of grave consequence in today’s politics.” She goes on to say that “the future of open societies will not be secured by like-minded people speaking to each other in an echo chamber, but by subjecting ideas and individuals from all sides to rigorous questioning and debate.” Beddoes will interview Bannon as part of what the festival is calling “A Debate on the Future of Liberalism.”