{"id":467185,"date":"2026-06-08T18:41:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T18:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/467185\/"},"modified":"2026-06-08T18:41:00","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T18:41:00","slug":"bari-weiss-and-the-cbs-cloud-hanging-over-the-paramount-warner-bros-merger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/467185\/","title":{"rendered":"Bari Weiss and the CBS cloud hanging over the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n A version of this article first appeared in the \u201cReliable Sources\u201d newsletter. Sign up for free here<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n

\n Does bad news for CBS News translate to bad news for Paramount\u2019s takeover of CNN and the rest of Warner Bros. Discovery?\n <\/p>\n

\n Not directly, no. But the self-inflicted wounds at CBS News may raise a different question for Paramount CEO David Ellison: Has Bari Weiss become too much of a distraction?\n <\/p>\n

\n The \u201c60 Minutes\u201d firings and now Scott Pelley\u2019s \u201cCBS News is on fire\u201d interview<\/a> have exploded in the press just weeks before Paramount would like to complete the blockbuster WBD deal.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cLegally speaking, it doesn\u2019t matter,\u201d an executive involved in the mega-merger said on condition of anonymity. That\u2019s because regulators are examining the deal on antitrust grounds, not on journalism-ethics grounds. \u201cBut PR-wise, it might matter,\u201d the source added.\n <\/p>\n

\n Headlines like this one<\/a>, from the Financial Times, are never helpful: \u201cInside the CBS mutiny against Bari Weiss and David Ellison.\u201d The Los Angeles Times recently wrote<\/a> that \u201cIn Hollywood, image is everything. And David Ellison has an image problem.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n And merger opponents are certainly citing the CBS News controversies in their campaigning. \u201cThe same Trump billionaire buddy behind the CBS MAGA makeover is now coming for CNN,\u201d the Freedom of the Press Foundation said last week.\n <\/p>\n

\n A cynic might say that a shake-up at \u201c60 Minutes\u201d is exactly what President Donald Trump and his appointees wanted to see while weighing whether to approve the Paramount-WBD deal.\n <\/p>\n

\"Warner<\/p>\n

\n But conventional wisdom holds that the Trump administration was already going to give the go-ahead. The real uncertainty remains at the state level, where a group of Democratic state attorneys general is likely to challenge the deal.\n <\/p>\n

\n Several news outlets reported last Friday that multiple states are preparing a lawsuit, led by California attorney general Rob Bonta.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe litigation would seek to challenge the proposed merger on antitrust grounds, arguing it would thwart competition, lower wages and lead to widespread job losses,\u201d the Los Angeles Times reported<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n

\n Bonta and some of his counterparts, like New York AG Letitia James, are running for reelection this fall, and the Democratic base wants to see candidates taking on Trump.\n <\/p>\n

\n In that sense, Paramount-WBD is a proxy fight. CBS News has not gone MAGA, contra to what many critics have claimed, but progressive voters certainly have seen a Trump-shaped cloud hovering over the deal.\n <\/p>\n

\n State AG action is not the only wildcard. European Union regulators have a July 7 deadline \u201cto clear the blockbuster deal or open an in-depth review,\u201d Bloomberg\u2019s Samuel Stolton noted<\/a> in a story that revealed one possible concession: Paramount \u201cis prepared \u2014 if necessary \u2014 to divest some children\u2019s TV network assets\u201d to help win approval.\n <\/p>\n

\n Giving up the Cartoon Network, for example, is a small price to pay for a deal that feels existential to the parties involved. The amount of time, money and muscle that\u2019s gone into this merger cannot be overstated.\n <\/p>\n

\n Ellison \u201cis, above all, battle hardened,\u201d Charlie Gasparino wrote<\/a> in the New York Post the other day. \u201cHe and his pops\u201d \u2013 Oracle billionaire Larry Ellison \u2013 \u201cbelieve they have earned their mandate to change CBS, and Scott Pelley can\u2019t stand in their way.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\"David<\/p>\n

\n Friday\u2019s reports about the looming state AG lawsuit, which Paramount executives believe would be meritless, pushed Paramount shares under the $10 mark, though the stock recovered somewhat on Monday. Analysts at Raymond James said in a memo to clients, \u201cWe still believe the deal is likely to close, although [third quarter 2026] closing guidance seems aggressive.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n On Monday a Paramount spokesperson told CNN, \u201cOpposing this deal means opposing expanded consumer choice, new opportunities for creators and workers, and greater competition throughout the creative ecosystem \u2014 the opposite of what antitrust law is meant to achieve.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n On CNN Sunday evening, I suggested thinking about this period at CBS News as \u201cthe Bari Weiss experiment.\u201d The problem is that no one can agree on what the experiment is about or whether it\u2019s working.\n <\/p>\n

\n A battery of critics say Weiss is there for political reasons. Pelley told New York Times interviewer Lulu Garcia-Navarro that Weiss has been \u201cputting a thumb on the scale\u201d on behalf of the Trump administration. (A CBS News spokesperson said Pelley\u2019s argument is not credible.)\n <\/p>\n

\n The bigger problem, Pelley said, was \u201cnot any kind of political influence. The problem was the incompetence.\u201d That\u2019s the part Ellison may be scrutinizing \u2014 not what Weiss has done, but how she has done it.\n <\/p>\n

\n On Monday, TheWrap editor in chief Sharon Waxman wrote<\/a> that Weiss has \u201cfast become a liability for Ellison\u201d and wondered if he\u2019ll \u201cmake a move.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n When Ellison acquired The Free Press and put Weiss in charge of CBS News last fall, he talked about making the third-place network news division \u201cthe most trusted name in news.\u201d Go back and re-read his memo<\/a>: \u201cOur goal is to broaden our reach while solidifying our position as a leading voice in American journalism,\u201d Ellison wrote. \u201cEvery step of the way, trust and facts will remain our guiding principles as we work every day to strengthen and deepen our connection with our audience.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Obviously, the overhaul of \u201c60 Minutes\u201d has not done that.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThis whole mess has wounded and damaged the broadcast,\u201d correspondents Lesley Stahl, Bill Whitaker and Jon Wertheim wrote in their Friday note explaining why they\u2019re going to \u201cstay and fight.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n The trio pointedly expressed their concerns about management, meaning Weiss, while saying they will give Nick Bilton a chance.\n <\/p>\n

\n Let\u2019s not lose sight of this: CBS News is producing strong work every single day. The newsroom is soldiering on, landing scoops, asking questions, doing the work. But, as one CBS News source remarked to me, \u201cwe are so bone-tired of being in the news.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n After speaking with journalists there all weekend long, I can say that morale within the news organization is as low as you\u2019d expect, and there is a wide range of opinion about what\u2019s happened at \u201c60 Minutes.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\"Bari<\/p>\n

\n Some newsroom staffers believe Weiss is the problem, while others are more forgiving (or at least less impacted by her changes). A few told me they wish Weiss would defend herself and explain her moves on the record, though I\u2019m told non-disparagement clauses and other legal provisions stand in the way of that.\n <\/p>\n

\n Several others told me they are worried about a chilling effect from Pelley\u2019s firing, if colleagues hesitate to push back against management, though the sources all said they wouldn\u2019t hesitate to do so.\n <\/p>\n

\n And CBS journalists outside New York told me they barely interact with Weiss or feel her involvement, which is striking because, as a source in Washington said, \u201cif this were all ideological, you\u2019d think it would be the opposite,\u201d with management involving itself in the intricacies of Trump coverage.\n <\/p>\n

\n The big unknown, one veteran CBS News staffer said, is, \u201cHow many viewers have turned us off or tuned us out because of all of this?\u201d\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A version of this article first appeared in the \u201cReliable Sources\u201d newsletter. Sign up for free here. Does…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":467186,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[156,111,139,69,437],"class_list":["post-467185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=467185"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467185\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/467186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=467185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=467185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=467185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}