Bari Weiss — the 41-year-old “it girl” journalist who just became CBS News’ editor in chief — faces a “snake pit” as she looks to reshape the left-leaning network, sources told The Post.
Paramount Skydance boss David Ellison said Monday that he wants to restore “balance” to CBS News and its marquee shows — “60 Minutes,” “Face The Nation” and “CBS Sunday Morning” as he confirmed his hire of Weiss and the $150 million acquisition of her scrappy news site, The Free Press.
But current and former CBS News insiders said Weiss, known for her contrarian salvos against the media establishment, will face a dug-in newsroom culture that has grown used to ignoring turnaround executives — and eventually reasserting itself once they’re gone.
“I think there’s some CBS old timers who would rather see the brand fail and lose their jobs than embrace change,” said a former CBS News staffer. “It’s a snake pit.”
“I expect the deep-state CBS News will try to kill Weiss with leaks,” another staffer predicted. “She will implode because she isn’t a manager or an executive and has no experience in TV whatsoever.”
Multiple CBS sources said Weiss must win over rank and file who cling to CBS’ glory days and icons like Edward R. Murrow, Walter Cronkite and Mike Wallace — as well as new hires aligned with CBS News president Tom Cibrowski, who joined the network in March.
Cibrowski — a former executive producer of ABC’s “Good Morning America” — has been positioned by Paramount Skydance as Weiss’ counterpart given his know-how with TV broadcasting.
“Here’s a woman who is a complete and total outsider,” said a second ex-CBS source, noting Weiss’ lack of TV experience. “She hasn’t been in an edit room.”
A more sympathetic source said Weiss — who is said to be capable of considerable charm, her fierce drive and journalistic chops notwithstanding — will be able to make alliances and friends at the network.
“She’s going to have to win over people but those she can’t, she’s going to have to show them the door,” a second staffer said. “She’s going to need her own people, as well as current and former CBS News people to help her navigate.”
As first reported by The Post, Weiss will report to directly Ellison, while Cibrowski is reporting to George Cheeks, the head of the company’s TV Media group who also reports to Ellison.
The lopsided arrangement is already raising hackles at The Tiffany Network. Another former CBS employee told The Post that Eliison “doesn’t seem to care about establishment or legacy journalism,” and that the Weiss hire is about “disruption.”
The former New York Times op-ed writer will also have to wrangle with top talent like “60 Minutes’” Scott Pelley, who is known for his outsize ego, as well as “Face The Nation” anchor Margaret Brennan, who has been accused by conservatives of bias against President Trump.
There’s also “CBS Mornings” executive producer Shawna Thomas, who, as exclusively reported by The Post, pushed back on orders from Cibrowski’s predecessor Wendy McMahon.
In his note to employees Monday, the Paramount Skydance CEO lamented a “partisan” environment consumed by “hostile disputes.” Weiss, he said, will bring “rigorous, fact-based reporting and a relentless commitment to amplifying voices from all corners of the spectrum.”
Weiss on Monday sent her own note to CBS News staffers, saying she grew up watching “60 Minutes” and that she aims for “journalism that reports on the world as it actually is,” and “journalism that holds both American political parties to equal scrutiny.”
“I’ll approach it the way any reporter would—with an open mind, a fresh notebook, and an urgent deadline,” Weiss wrote.
Ellison’s Skydance merged with Paramount in August for $8 billion, and as part of the deal, the newly-formed company vowed to the Federal Communications Commission that it would address bias complaints.
In doing so, the new company recently named Kenneth R. Weinstein as CBS News ombudsman.
Weeks before the merger was approved by the FCC, Paramount agreed to pay $16 million to settle a lawsuit brought by Donald Trump over alleged biased editing of a “60 Minutes” interview with Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris shortly before the election.
The network denied any wrongdoing, but it eventually settled the lawsuit, with Ellison sweetening the deal by agreeing to throw in an additional $20 million in pro-MAGA advertising to get the deal done, Trump has said.
Aside from the Harris scandal, the network was forced to fend off calls of bias over its Israel coverage, which roiled the company’s then-controlling shareholder Shari Redstone.
Weiss, who has been vocal about antisemitism amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, first made headlines for her scathing resignation letter from The New York Times, in which she said a “new McCarthyism” had taken hold and claimed Twitter had become the paper’s “ultimate editor.”
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