"It was apparent to many inside the network that Weiss, a digital-media native, was an uneasy fit in the more buttoned-up world of television news. She had donned a CBS baseball cap for her first editorial meeting, and ended the session by telling the room, Let's do the f*cking news! At another meeting, Weiss urged staff to up their coverage of the protests unfolding in Iran, mentioning videos she'd seen online that almost look like a movie scene. One senior reporter with experience covering the country cautioned that some of what Weiss was citing were videos from protests three years earlier."
"The profile also detailed a memo Weiss sent to all CBS staffers, inquiring about how you spend your working hours, a request that was reminiscent of a similar request that Elon Musk had sent government employees during his tenure as Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) boss. By the end of the day Tuesday, I'd like a memo from each person across our news organization, the note read. I want to understand how you spend your working hoursand, ideally, what you've made (or are making) that you're most proud of. When Weiss is in the CBS News office, she's surrounded by bodyguards, something a producer told The New Yorker was offensive. The implication was that we're going to try to kill her, the producer told the magazine."
Bari Weiss assumed leadership at CBS News after the network's purchase by Larry and David Ellison in August 2025 and immediately generated tension. Staffers viewed her as a digital-media native who struggled to fit into television's more buttoned-up newsroom culture. She made blunt editorial remarks in meetings, urged expanded coverage based on online videos later identified as older footage, and circulated a memo demanding detailed reports on employees' working hours and proud work. Weiss also moved with visible security that unsettled some colleagues and contributed to a broader sense of unease and internal friction.
Read at www.mediaite.com
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