Top ‘CBS This Morning’ Producer Quietly Stepped Away in Summer

Brian Steinberg
·2 min read

CBS News is looking for a new executive producer for its A.M. program, “CBS This Morning,” after executive producer Diana Miller decided to leave the program for personal reasons.

“The show will continue to be led by Claudia Milne and Jon Tower, who have been doing a fantastic job, while we look for a successor,” said CBS News President Susan Zirinsky, in a statement. “We greatly appreciate all of the contributions Diana has made to ‘CBS This Morning.’ All of us here wish her the very best and support her in this difficult decision.”

Miller’s departure was reported previously by The New York Post.

Her exit is the latest transition at the CBS morning program, which has flown through some turbulence since its inception in 2012. Miller took the reins of the program in April of 2019, as CBS reworked its lineup, moving from a quartet of Gayle King, Norah O’Donnell, John Dickerson and Bianna Golodryga to a trio of King, Anthony Mason and Tony Dokoupil. CBS has long trailed rivals NBC and ABC in terms of morning ratings, but the current incarnation of “CBS This Morning” has given the network its most competitive bid in the A.M. race in years.

But the show’s performance has slipped since it was set up as a brainier, newsier counterpart to ABC’s “Good Morning America” and NBC’s “Today.” In last week’s five-day broadcast period, “CBS This Morning” captured significantly fewer of the viewers most desired by advertisers in news programming. For the five days ended September 25, the CBS program captured an average of 588,000 viewers between 25 and 54, compared with 1,030,000 for “Today” and 997,000 for “GMA.” NBC’s level in the category was 75% higher than CBS’

Staffers at “CBS This Morning” believe the network will consider both internal and external candidates to fill Miller’s role.

Claudia Milne was previously senior editor of video for ProPublica., and has also served as head of global TV for Bloomberg and spent two decades with the BBC. Jon Tower has been with “CBS This Morning” for five years as a member of its overnight team and working in the control room. He was previously a producer for MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

Miller joined “CBS This Morning” in 2014 as a senior producer and was named senior broadcast producer in June 2016, responsible for overseeing the daily editorial programming and staffing of the two-hour program. She began her career at CNN and “Anderson Cooper 360,” then produced and helped launch a variety of programs including “Live from The Couch” on CBS station WLNY, “Anderson” at Telepictures, and “The Seven” at MTV. She graduated summa cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania.

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