Bari Weiss to CBS News Staff: Pivot or Become Irrelevant

Bari Weiss delivered a blunt message to CBS News staff this week: The network won't survive by holding on tight to its broadcast audience. In an all-hands meeting on Tuesday, the CBS News editor in chief—who simultaneously runs the opinion site the Free Press, now owned by CBS parent Paramount Skydance—announced a new lineup of contributors that pulls heavily from the Free Press orbit, report the Washington Post and Axios. The roster includes Harvard professor Arthur Brooks, historian Niall Ferguson, ex-Trump national security adviser HR McMaster, and New York chef Clare de Boer. Neuroscientist and podcaster Andrew Huberman and physician Mark Hyman, both controversial in medical circles, were also added.

Weiss—who "sees her role as a change agent," per the AP—told staff she wants CBS News to become a home for viewers across a broad middle. "We're for the center. We're for the center-right, and we're for the center-left," she said. Weiss also argued that the network's current output isn't drawing enough audience, and that relying on those who watch broadcast TV is a dead end: "If we stick to that strategy, we are toast." Some staffers agreed with her industry diagnosis but questioned her methods and whether the new contributors would meaningfully change CBS' trajectory.

Weiss also addressed one of her most controversial early moves: delaying a 60 Minutes piece on deportees transported to El Salvador's CECOT prison after promotions had already aired. She described the last-minute hold as an effort to secure more information on the prisoners and comment from the Trump administration, insisting she wasn't pressured by Paramount Skydance chief David Ellison. The segment eventually ran four weeks later, without the interview but with written responses from Trump officials.

Gayle King, co-host of CBS Mornings, followed Weiss with a call to embrace improvement without losing the network's identity. She also sharply criticized internal leaks, saying she was "so sick of that," prompting Weiss to quip that someone was probably livestreaming the meeting already. Weiss also told staffers who don't love her vision for the network that they have other options, per the Daily Beast. She compared CBS under her wing to a startup, noting that startups "aren't for everyone. They're places that move at a rapid speed. They experiment. They try new things. They sometimes create noise and, yes, bad press," she said. "I completely respect if you decide this is just not the right place at the right time for you."