CBS Ditches Trans Journalists Association Guide, Mandates 'Biological Sex at Birth'

CBS News standards is now officially calling a spade, a spade and apparently some people don't like it.

Scoop: A senior CBS News standards director told staffers to refer to gov SCOTUS arguments on trans athletes with the phrase "biological sex at birth," a change from CBS's use of the @TransJA styleguide and follows an internal dustup in Nov on the phrasehttps://t.co/DNxby1PVYt
— Corbin Bolies (@CorbinBolies) January 14, 2026

A senior standards director at CBS News told staffers on Tuesday to use the term “biological sex at birth” without quotations when referring to a case before the Supreme Court challenging state bans on transgender athletes from competing in women’s and girls’ sports, a break from its prior newsroom guidance.
Tom Burke, the network’s senior director of standards and practices, wrote in Tuesday’s memo that CBS News “will use the term biological sex at birth” with “no quotes needed” when describing arguments from West Virginia and Idaho defending their law that bans trans athletes. The company has been without a formal head of standards since October after Claudia Milne left.
CBS News declined to comment.
This new guidance reflects the latest shift in CBS News coverage under Bari Weiss, the co-founder and editor of the right-leaning Free Press, who was appointed the network’s editor in chief in October after CBS-Paramount acquired her site.
The network’s relaunch of “CBS Evening News” included laying out five “simple values” ahead of anchor Tony Dokoupil’s takeover, prompting criticism online. Weiss came under fire last month for holding a hard-hitting “60 Minutes” segment on the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown just hours before broadcast. In defending the move, Weiss told staffers that the newsroom needed to make changes if it wanted to earn back its audience’s trust.

CBS Ditches Trans Journalists Association Guide, Mandates 'Biological Sex at Birth' — No Quotes Needed

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