{"id":433785,"date":"2026-01-28T00:59:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T00:59:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/433785\/"},"modified":"2026-01-28T00:59:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T00:59:11","slug":"bari-weiss-tries-to-win-cbs-staffers-trust-amid-noise-over-60-minutes-segment-cbs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/433785\/","title":{"rendered":"Bari Weiss tries to win CBS staffers\u2019 trust amid \u2018noise\u2019 over 60 Minutes segment | CBS"},"content":{"rendered":"

During her first address to CBS<\/a> News employees as editor in chief, Bari Weiss acknowledged that there had been \u201ca lot of noise\u201d about her tumultuous tenure and said that some staffers might decide they don\u2019t support her or want to continue working at the company.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just want to start by saying: I get it. And I get why, in the face of all this tumult and noise, you might feel uncertain or skeptical about me and about what I\u2019m aiming to do here,\u201d Weiss said on Tuesday morning, according to an audio recording of her comments obtained by the Guardian.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I\u2019m not going to stand up here today in front of all of you and ask for your trust: I\u2019m going to earn it, just like we have to do with our viewers. What I can give you is what I\u2019ve always tried to give my readers and listeners as a journalist: and that is transparency, clarity and straight talk.\u201d<\/p>\n

Weiss, who shared her broader strategy for the network for the first time since joining the network in October after her company The Free Press was acquired by Paramount Skydance for a reported $150m, said that her goal is to \u201cmake CBS<\/a> News fit for purpose in the 21st century\u201d.<\/p>\n

As part of the new strategy that Weiss laid out, CBS News announced the addition of 18 new on-air contributors, including prominent names from the world of politics, academia and culture \u2013 though some have faced controversy. The list includes medical expert Mark Hyman, historian Niall Ferguson, neuroscientist Andrew Huberman and former national security adviser H R McMaster.<\/p>\n

Ending her opening remarks, Weiss acknowledged that her plans might not be for everyone.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are the best-capitalized media startup in the world,\u201d she said. \u201cWe have the talent, we have the energy, and we have the mandate to transform CBS News. And if everyone here does their jobs right, and together, in a year\u2019s time CBS News is going to look different. But startups aren\u2019t for everybody. \u2026 If that\u2019s not your bag, that\u2019s OK. It\u2019s a free country, and I completely respect if you decide I\u2019m not the right leader for you, or this isn\u2019t the right place at the right time.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said the network\u2019s transformation will be \u201cone hell of a fight. But I don\u2019t just think that we can win it, I know that we can. I took this job because I believe that in my bones, and because frankly, I don\u2019t want to live in an America where there is no trust in our great institutions any more. And CBS News is one of those institutions.\u201d<\/p>\n

She then provided some tough talk for her skeptical staff: \u201cThe honest truth is: right now we are not producing a product that enough people want.\u201d<\/p>\n

Weiss said that \u201cnot enough people trust us\u201d, referring to declines in trust in the mainstream media, and that CBS News was not sufficiently reaching viewers via new formats.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur strategy until now has been: cling to the audience that remains on broadcast television,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m here to tell you that if we stick to that strategy, we\u2019re toast. Starting now, we have to focus on what we\u2019re building, not on what we\u2019re maintaining.\u201d<\/p>\n

Talking about the network\u2019s editorial positioning, Weiss said that CBS News was \u201cfor the center, we\u2019re for the center-right, and we\u2019re for the center-left. And that is the vast majority of the company \u2013 that\u2019s who we need to reach.\u201d<\/p>\n

She also said the network plans to invest more resources in \u201cproducing revelatory journalism every day, which I think is the only kind that\u2019s going to matter in the 21st century\u201d.<\/p>\n

Asked by a staffer during the question-and-answer portion of the town hall about her decision to hold a 60 Minutes segment slated to air in December about Venezuelans sent to a notorious Salvadorian prison, Weiss seemed to evince some regret. \u201cIt\u2019s always going to be my prerogative as editor of this newsroom to say that I want more information and to push to get new information,\u201d she said. \u201cNow, am I ever going to hold something again after it has been put out there with promos? I don\u2019t want to make that exact same decision again. No, I do not.\u201d<\/p>\n

The show ultimately aired the segment on 18 January<\/a>, but it still lacked an on-camera interview with a member of the Trump administration, which Weiss had pushed for.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs to why did I hold it \u2026 That specific logistical nightmare \u2013 that\u2019s never going to happen again,\u201d she said, telling staff she didn\u2019t know the screening schedule for 60 Minutes segments because she is new to the company. \u201cSo please rest assured that nothing of that kind is ever going to happen again.\u201d<\/p>\n

In response to another question, Weiss denied that Paramount Skydance\u2019s chief executive, David Ellison, \u201cpressured\u201d her to hold the story. She said her only conversations with Ellison have been about \u201cfairness\u201d.<\/p>\n

One CBS News staffer, who was not authorized to comment, described Tuesday\u2019s town hall as \u201cso produced\u201d and \u201cso forced\u201d \u2013 though Weiss took a number of employee questions and was greeted with a large round of applause as the event concluded.<\/p>\n

One of the questions posed to Weiss \u2013 which were submitted anonymously by employees \u2013 conveyed some of the concerns that CBS News staffers have had<\/a> over the first three and a half months of her tenure.<\/p>\n

\u201cCertain decisions and editorial choices have scared us,\u201d a staffer wrote in the question, which was read aloud by an anchor at CBS News. \u201cAt Evening News, people are afraid for their jobs and afraid to even speak for fear of retaliation. There has been a chilling effect within our newsroom. It feels right now like if we offer feedback, alternatives, or constructive criticism, that we are asking for targets on our backs \u2013 or the answer is simply no.\u201d<\/p>\n

The morning show host Gayle King offered something of a rallying cry for CBS employees near the end of the event, acknowledging and dismissing rumors about her potential departure.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had a lot of incoming,\u201d King said. \u201cPeople come and pet me like a puppy and say, \u2018I\u2019m so sorry that you\u2019re leaving CBS. I won\u2019t watch you guys again. And it\u2019s not the same place.\u2019 And when I come here, what I see every day are people who really love what they do.\u201d<\/p>\n

King praised Weiss for laying out a vision for the network. \u201cFor many people, they\u2019ve never even heard your freaking voice,\u201d she said. \u201cSo it\u2019s good for them to see you\u2019re a real person and this is what you want and how you feel about us and how you feel about this job.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"During her first address to CBS News employees as editor in chief, Bari Weiss acknowledged that there had…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":433786,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":{"0":"post-433785","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-united-states-of-america","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","14":"tag-us","15":"tag-usa"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=433785"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433785\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/433786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=433785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=433785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=433785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}