The imminent arrival of anti-woke and stridently pro-Israel “heterodox” pundit Bari Weiss as the editor-in-chief of CBS News has left the newsroom’s staff “literally freaking out,” with sources telling The Independent that the Tiffany Network is “not a good place right now.”
The rising frustration among the network’s journalists has also been compounded by the fact that David Ellison, the chief executive of the newly merged Paramount Skydance, is preparing to implement brutal layoffs and slash up to 10 percent of CBS News’ staff – all while paying Weiss up to $150 million to acquire her digital media outlet The Free Press.
Meanwhile, Weiss seizing the reins of the network’s vaunted news division – which has been months in the making – comes as staff have grown increasingly disgruntled with Ellison’s transformation of CBS News, with many feeling that the new owner “lied” to them when he insisted he didn’t want to “politicize” the network.
The Independent has reached out to representatives for Paramount, Ellison and Weiss for comment.
Following a politically tainted $8.4 billion merger between Ellison’s Skydance Media and Paramount Global, which saw Paramount agree to pay Donald Trump $16 million to settle a “meritless” lawsuit over a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris, the new leadership team has made several moves to seemingly appease the right and the president.
Days before the Federal Communications Commission approved the merger, Skydance promised Trump’s handpicked FCC chairman Brendan Carr that the new Paramount would not only eliminate all diversity hiring policies but would also install an ombudsman who would review “complaints of bias” at CBS News. Last month, Kenneth Weinstein – a former Trump appointee and leader of a conservative think tank – was appointed by Paramount to serve as the ombudsman of the news network.
Paramount’s leaders also effectively sided with the White House last month when it implemented new editing rules for the Sunday show Face the Nation, announcing that all interviews on the show will either be broadcast live or live to tape, following complaints from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem about her answers being “shamefully edited” during a taping.
In recent weeks, Democratic lawmakers have opened an investigation into whether the 60 Minutes settlement – and Trump’s claims that he reached a “side deal” with Ellison to air pro-Trump ads on CBS after the merger was complete – constituted a “bribe.” The probe is also looking into Paramount’s pre-merger decision to cancel prominent Trump critic Stephen Colbert’s top-rated late-night CBS show.
Ellison, the son of Oracle founder and top Trump ally Larry Ellison, has been in talks to purchase The Free Press and bring Weiss aboard to set the editorial direction of CBS News for months now.
Weiss, a former New York Times opinion columnist who famously quit The Grey Lady in 2020 over what she cited as the paper’s left-leaning editorial policies and “illiberal environment,” is expected to report to Ellison directly. Tom Cibrowski will remain as president of CBS News and work alongside Weiss, according to The New York Times.
The Free Press, which Weiss launched in 2021 alongside her wife and sister, will be purchased for a price tag of roughly $150 million, paid out in a combination of cash and stock. The site, which is hosted on Substack, has 1.5 million subscribers – with roughly 10 percent of those paid. According to Puck, the “heterodox” site’s valuation sits at around $100 million.
“Her stunning comeback is a tribute to her hustle, her oft-acknowledged personal charisma, and above all her unapologetic support for Israel and attacks on progressive social justice dogmas, often disparaged as ‘wokeness’ – both of which align her with some of the most powerful people alive even as they alienate her from many of her generational peers in journalism,” The Guardian noted about Weiss in a profile last month.
While it appears that The Free Press will remain a standalone property and it isn’t clear yet if it will be integrated into CBS News’ digital site, Weiss’ presence as a newsroom leader will almost certainly fuel even more tension at the network, which has been in turmoil since Paramount began negotiating a settlement over the 60 Minutes lawsuit.
The 41-year-old commentator will step into a news organization that has already seen the executive producer of 60 Minutes and the network’s news president resign over what they saw as corporate interference with editorial and journalistic independence, noting that they would not apologize for the Harris interview.
Additionally, the belief among network insiders and staffers is that Weiss is being hired to tamp down on pro-Palestinian coverage of the Gaza War, which was already a central sticking point with former Paramount chair Shari Redstone.
“A major reason why this deal is happening is The Free Press’ unflinching pro-Israeli stance and Larry Ellison and his son David Ellison’s close ties to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,” Breaker reported this week.
While CBS News staffers who spoke with The Independent noted that the majority of the newsroom wouldn’t welcome Weiss because of both her lack of experience and editorial sensibilities, they also said some reporters “would love” the hire specifically over her pro-Israel position.
“I think there are some people there that are like, yes, get her in here because they care about one issue, and that’s Israel,” one reporter said.
However, for the most part, sources stated that morale is extremely low and there is no real appetite among most of the staff to see Weiss take charge of the network and potentially squander its credibility, as well as that of 60 Minutes, its legendary and long-running newsmagazine.
“People are using words like depressing and doomsday – feels like some sort of doomsday,” the same reporter declared.
“I think the ombudsman, Bari Weiss, and the impending massive layoffs that are coming in a couple of weeks have everyone just kind of freaking out, like, literally freaking out,” another CBS journalist noted. “It’s not a good place right now. There was a proper way to do this and a not proper way, and they’re doing it in the non-proper way, and maybe that’s by design.”
Indeed, with Ellison already making it clear that the new Paramount plans to slash $2 billion from its ledger sheet, painful layoffs are just around the bend – with hundreds of reporters and news staffers on the chopping block. Therefore, the windfall of cash to Weiss is not exactly sitting well with employees who are currently fearful of impending pink slips.
“The fact that we don’t have money to pay journalists, but we have money to pay Bari Weiss between $100 and 200 million is indicative of what the Ellisons’ true goal here is,” a network correspondent said. “And it’s not journalism.”
Network staffers also told The Independent that Weiss would have a tough time gaining the respect of the newsroom because they see her as something of a “political operative,” adding that CBS News is already “not a welcoming place for outsiders.”
“There are so many people who’ve come in here and been chewed up and spit out that the idea that somebody that we don’t want is going to come in here and somehow manage to survive this is, I think, laughable,” the CBS reporter declared. “So she’s in for, I would venture to guess, a rough ride.”
While Ellison insisted right after the close of the merger that he was “committed to accuracy, integrity, and public trust” and wanted to maintain CBS News’ “storied” legacy, all while steering clear of politicizing the network, sources said that the installation of Weiss as top editor of the news division flies in the face of all of that.
“He’s essentially going to hand the keys to the kingdom to Bari Weiss and to anyone and everyone who is an ideologue that supports his and his father’s world,” the CBS reporter told The Independent.
The network journalist added that Weiss lacks experience dealing with a broadcast organization of CBS News’ size, wondering if she’ll be able to “determine if we cover weather in Mississippi” or send reporting crews to various American and international cities.
“There’s such a gulf between your own online publication and broadcast television,” they stated, adding: “Does she know how to do this stuff? … Forget what her political views are, does she know how to do this?!”
Furthermore, in response to a “source close to Ellison” telling The Financial Times that the news “became extreme, elitist, and performative” and that Ellison plans to “bring back a performance-based culture” at CBS in the tradition of Walter Cronkite and Edward Murrow, a network insider scoffed while invoking the Weiss move.
“Also, is Weiss’ Free Press not extreme, elite, and performative? It’s both those things, which is why it’s considered fringe media and CBS News is not,” the insider said. “Is Bari Weiss considered objective or a journalist? Cronkite and Murrow would absolutely not think she is and would have tossed her out of the newsroom inside an hour.”
Ultimately, at least one source pointed out that it was what they saw as a relative lack of qualifications for the senior editorial position that could really hinder Weiss in the eyes of those she hopes to supervise and lead.
“It’s just like anybody that you think isn’t qualified for the job that comes in, there’s going to be trepidation, right?” the network correspondent wondered. “Whether it’s Bari Weiss or, you know, Michael Scott from The Office.”
