CBS News updates transgender term guidelines to include ‘biological sex at birth': report

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CBS News updates transgender term guidelines to include ‘biological sex at birth': report

The alleged changes came ahead of Supreme Court hearings on state bans of transgender athletes in female sports

Lindsay Kornick Fox News

Published

January 15, 2026 10:58am EST

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CBS News has updated its style guidelines regarding transgender individuals to use the term "biological sex at birth," according to a new report.

According to The Wrap, Tom Burke, the network’s senior director of standards and practices, sent out a memo informing the organization that the network "will use the term biological sex at birth" with "no quotes needed." The memo reportedly came ahead of reports on Supreme Court hearings about challenges to state bans on transgender athletes taking part in women's sports.

The news also followed reports that a "prominent correspondent" at the network, later reported to be Jan Crawford, wrote in an email that CBS News "should refrain from adopting terminology advocated by the movement."

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CBS News began using the term "biological sex at birth" in reports about recent Supreme Court hearings on state bans of biological males in female sports. (Erik McGregor/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Fox News Digital reached out to CBS News for comment.

Reports on CBS News' website written since Tuesday have been using the term "biological sex at birth" when covering news about the Supreme Court hearings.

"If a student's sex is disputed, the law requires the athlete to provide a health examination and consent form that verifies their biological sex at birth," one report from Tuesday read.

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Another report said, "The justices heard more than three hours of arguments in a pair of cases challenging laws from West Virginia and Idaho that require public school and collegiate sports teams to be designated based on biological sex at birth and restrict transgender girls and women from competing on teams that correspond with their gender identity."

Crawford, the network's legal correspondent, also used the phrase "biological sex at birth" for her on-air report on the Supreme Court cases on Wednesday.

Man standing in front of a male and female symbol

AP Style Guidelines previously encouraged journalists to avoid using the term "biological sex." (iStock)

The move marked a departure from previous media style guidelines. In 2023, The AP Style Guide from the Associated Press instructed journalists to avoid phrases like "both sexes" and use the term "sex assigned at birth" instead of "biological sex."

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"Avoid terms like biological sex, along with biological male and biological female, which opponents of transgender rights sometimes use to refer to transgender women and transgender men, respectively," the style guide read.

Paramount owner David Ellison tapped Bari Weiss as editor-in-chief of CBS News, leading to many changes within the network. (Charly Triballeau/AFP via Getty Images; James Leynse/Corbis via Getty Images; Noam Galai/Getty Images for The Free Press)

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CBS News has made significant editorial changes since top editor Bari Weiss was installed by Paramount chief David Ellison in October, drawing intense criticism from liberal media commentators.

Lindsay Kornick is an associate editor for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to lindsay.kornick@fox.com and on Twitter: @lmkornick.

CBS News updates transgender term guidelines to include ‘biological sex at birth': report