Thinus Ferreira
Paramount Skydance has started its retrenchment process to get rid of the first 1 000 of 2 000 staffers and it is shutting down the CBS News Johannesburg news bureau in South Africa as part of the dramatic cost-cutting.
While the first 1 000 workers put out of jobs by Paramount Global are primarily in the United States - although these American retrenchments intersect with localised closures like the Johannesburg bureau - Paramount is set to still get rid of another 1 000 workers in a second retrenchment round.
This second retrenchment round will affect workers who are US-based as well as globally.
The South African Debora Patta has been the famous face of CBS News in South Africa, across Africa and even on international assignments like reporting from the Middle East and Jerusalem, as well as the Ukraine
Recently promoted to senior foreign correspondent for CBS News, Debora Patta has done absolutely stellar work the past few years for CBS News, with appearances and reporting across the various CBS News programmes, like the CBS Evening News - travelling throughout Africa and the Middle East and doing incredible, high-quality news reporting.
CBS News is now forced to move oversight of South Africa and the African continent to the CBS News London bureau in the United Kingdom.
Also still coming as part of Paramount's second tranche of retrenchments are the workers possibly losing their jobs at Paramount Africa in Johannesburg, and even the possible closure of Paramount Africa's entire localised operations and offices based in South Africa and Nigeria.
Paramount Africa is run from its office in Bryanston, Johannesburg, with Craig Paterson, Paramount Africa senior vice president and general manager, as well as Monde Twala, senior vice-president and general manager of Paramount Africa and lead of BET International, who warned staffers in July that Paramount is considering shutting down local operations in Africa as the company "evaluates its pay-TV strategy and local channel footprint here in Africa".
