CBS News Mandates ‘Biological Sex at Birth’ in Major Style Guide Update
CBS News has issued a significant directive to its newsroom, overhauling its internal style guide to mandate the use of the phrase "biological sex at birth" in place of "assigned male or female at birth." The change, communicated to staff on Thursday, marks a major departure from the terminology that has become standard across much of the media landscape over the last decade.
The policy shift arrives as the cultural and political debate over gender identity intensifies under the current administration, coinciding with a new federal crackdown on school athletic policies.
A Return to "Traditional Descriptive Language"
According to internal memos obtained by industry watchdogs, network executives instructed producers, correspondents, and digital editors to immediately adopt the new standards for all broadcasts and online content. The directive explicitly discourages the use of "assigned at birth"—a term long preferred by LGBTQ+ advocates to reflect the distinction between gender identity and biological characteristics—labeling it as "activist-preferred language" that may confuse general audiences.
"Our goal is precision and clarity," read a portion of the guidance distributed to the news division. "To maintain neutrality and align with scientific and traditional descriptive language, we will refer to an individual's biological sex at birth when relevant to the reporting."
Insiders at the network suggest the move is an effort to retain trust with a broader segment of the American public, amid growing criticism from conservative circles that mainstream media outlets have adopted ideological glossaries.
Coordinated with Federal Shifts
The timing of the CBS update aligns with a broader pivot in Washington. Just hours before the style guide changes were leaked, the U.S. Department of Education announced it had opened civil rights investigations into 15 schools and universities across the country.
The investigations focus on alleged Title IX violations, specifically regarding the participation of transgender women in female sports. Under the Trump administration’s interpretation of Title IX, protections are based strictly on "biological sex," a definition the White House has pushed to codify across all federal agencies.
"The Department is committed to ensuring a level playing field," an Education Department spokesperson said Thursday regarding the probes. "Institutions that ignore the biological reality of athletic competition are denying opportunities to women and girls."
Industry Ripple Effects
The decision by CBS News is expected to have a ripple effect across the media industry. For years, major outlets including the AP, The New York Times, and CNN adopted language such as "assigned at birth" to validate the lived experiences of transgender individuals. CBS’s reversal signals a potential fracturing of that consensus.
Advocacy groups were quick to condemn the move. GLAAD released a statement calling the decision "a dangerous capitulation to anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric" that "inaccurately conflates biology with destiny."
Conversely, the move was celebrated by conservative media watchdogs and administration officials, who have long argued that the media’s language on gender issues has been disjointed from the views of the average American.
As the Education Department ramps up its scrutiny of school boards and university athletic departments, the language used to report on these conflicts has become a battleground in itself. With this update, CBS News has signaled that it intends to navigate this polarized era by stepping back from the progressive lexicon that defined the previous decade of reporting.