Bari Weiss closes in on top job at CBS News — but staff fear it would be like ‘dropping a grenade’

Bari Weiss is closing in on a top role at CBS News — a move that left-leaning staffers at the network fret could amount to “dropping a grenade” in the newsroom, sources told The Post.

CBS News is weighing naming Weiss editor in chief or co-president of the network, sources told The Post, as the network’s new owner, David Ellison also weighs a broader deal to buy Bari Weiss’s scrappy news site, The Free Press, in a deal valued at upwards of $100 million.

The deal could come in the form of cash and stock for Weiss, and could exceed $150 million depending on how long she stays at Paramount, according to The New York Times, which first reported news of Thursday.

A source close to the situation told The Post a final agreement is still “weeks away and the deal points are still being worked out.”

A Paramount Skydance spokesperson couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.

According to a source, Ellison first approached the hard-charging Weiss about taking a top role at “60 Minutes” as he looks to make major changes at the left-leaning organization that will bring more conservative voices to the network.

Weiss, 41, has been described as a “genius” who “sees around corners” when it comes to news-making moments. However, her “limitless energy” and “laser focus” can sometimes come across as “controlling” or “difficult,” sources told The Post.

“It would be like dropping a grenade” in the newsroom, one former CBS News veteran said, of Weiss’ addition to the network.

Should Weiss come aboard, sources said she would likely lock horns with the network’s “dug in culture” at programs like “60 Minutes,” which recently elevated longtime assistant Tanya Simon to executive producer.

“They are used to doing things their way,” another source said.

Sources had speculated that the ambitious Weiss would be loathe to report to CBS News president Tom Cibrowski after running her own company. Insiders said she could be a strong counterpart to Cibrowski, a former “Good Morning America” executive, who is regarded more as a production wizard than a journalist by those who have worked with him.

Either way, it appears clear that Weiss is likely to take a major role steering the editorial coverage of the network. It is unclear whether Weiss — who has a podcast, “Honestly with Bari Weiss” and a column in The Free Press — will take on an additional journalistic presence at CBS News.

Staffers, meanwhile, are reportedly “apoplectic” and “not happy at all” about the prospect of Weiss joining the network in any capacity and changing the tenor of its coverage on subjects like the war in Gaza, Status reported last week.

Others are simply “freaking out” over the newly installed management’s mandate for workers to return to the office five days a week starting next year — a move interpreted by many as a pretext to mass layoffs in November, The Post reported exclusively last week.

“They are hoping to get a lot of attrition,” one source said of Ellison’s intentions.

Weiss — who famously ditched the left-leaning New York Times before launching The Free Press — has emerged as a leading voice against antisemitism and the “woke” elites in mainstream media. That caught the eye of Ellison before his deal with the Federal Communications Commission to provide unbiased coverage to gain approval for Skydance’s $8.4 billion merger with Paramount.

Ellison has been in talks with Weiss for roughly a year, a source with knowledge said, but his overtures grabbed the attention of the media when the two were spotted in July at the Allen & Co. summit, otherwise known as the “summer camp for billionaires,” in Sun Valley, Idaho.

Semafor reported on Sunday that Weiss floated bringing in her former New York Times boss James Bennet for a senior role if she takes the reins at CBS News.

No formal discussions with Bennet have taken place, Semafor reported.

The former editorial page editor quit the Gray Lady in June 2020 after staffers staged an internal revolt over his decision to green-light an op-ed from Sen. Tom Cotton, which argued for a military crackdown on rioting that took place following the police-involved death of George Floyd.

He has since argued that the Times succumbed to “illiberal bias” in a 17,000-word essay for The Economist and in public talks.

Weeks after Bennet left the paper, Weiss handed in her resignation. She published an open letter blasting the Times for its ideological conformity while alleging she was subjected to harassment over her political views in an “illiberal environment.”

CBS News and “60 Minutes” have come under fire over similar accusations.

As part of the post-merger reset, Skydance Paramount on Monday named Kenneth R. Weinstein as CBS News ombudsman — an FCC condition aimed at addressing bias complaints.

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.

Last October, “CBS Mornings” co-host Tony Dokoupil was thrust into the spotlight after a tense interview with author Ta-Nehisi Coates, who described Israel as a state built on “apartheid” and “ethnocracy.”

Dokoupil, who is Jewish and has two children living in Israel, slammed Coates for omitting historical context — to the shock of “CBS Mornings” staff, who later complained to network brass.

Adrienne Roark, the president of the news division at the time, rebuked Dokoupil in an all-hands meeting on Oct. 7 — the two-year anniversary of Hamas’ deadly attack on Israel — saying his work didn’t meet the standards of the network.

Months later, “60 Minutes” aired a controversial segment featuring State Department officials who quit over American support for Israel’s efforts to root out Hamas terrorists in Gaza — a piece the American Jewish Committee blasted as “shockingly one-sided, lacked factual accuracy, and relied heavily on misguided information.”