CBS News editor in chief Bari Weiss is set to hold a town hall meeting to share her vision for the future of the third-place network on Tuesday, after a tumultuous couple of months helming the network.
The exec, who joined CBS News in October, has rescheduled the meeting several times due to scheduling conflicts and a nasty bout of the flu, a source with knowledge of the matter told The Post.
Tuesday will mark the first time Weiss addresses the entire network, including its various bureaus, to “share her vision for the network’s future,” the person added.
The meeting will start at 11 a.m. and take place at the news hub at the network’s New York City headquarters on 57th Street, according to the meeting announcement obtained by The Post.
There will also be a livestream of the session for employees at CBS News’ Washington, London and Los Angeles bureaus.
It was not immediately known whether Weiss was planning to touch on the network’s impending layoffs. A rep for her declined to comment.
CBS News fired about 100 staffers in October, with more layoffs widely expected.
So far, Weiss has met individually with different programs and visited the bureaus, but she has not formally addressed her mission statement to turn around CBS News, which is home to “60 Minutes,” “CBS Mornings” and “CBS Evening News.”
Despite putting off the meeting for months, Weiss has hit the ground running — overhauling “CBS Evening News,” which swapped Tony Dokoupil for ousted co-anchors Maurice DuBois and John Dickerson last month, among other big changes.
Weiss and CBS News president Tom Cibrowski also shook up “CBS Saturday Morning” by slimming down the staff and replacing co-anchors Dana Jacobson and Michelle Miller with Adriana Diaz and Kelly O’Grady.
The execs have begun laying the groundwork to revamp the ratings-challenged “CBS Mornings.” Earlier this month, Weiss met with the show’s star host Gayle King about moving to a different, lesser-paid role, The Post previously reported.
The Post also reported that Weiss plans to beef up the network’s investigative unit and overhaul “60 Minutes” — which may include ousting veterans such as Scott Pelley and Sharyn Alfonsi.
Weiss’ short tenure has also been marked by missteps, including pulling a “60 Minutes” segment by Alfonsi on El Salvador’s notorious CECOT prison a day before it was slated to air — but not in time to prevent the segment from streaming in Canada.
After much pushback from Alfonsi, Weiss got staff to make changes including adding White House comment to the piece.
The ordeal rankled Alfonsi — and other “60 Minutes” staffers — and shed a light on the tension inside the network over Weiss’ leadership.
Meanwhile, CBS News’ marquee shows, “CBS Evening News,” “CBS Mornings” and “CBS Saturday Morning,” are heading for record-low ratings this month, as exclusively reported by The Post last week.
“Bari Weiss has her work cut out for her,” a CBS source previously said, calling the turnaround of the third-place news network a “Herculean task.”
Credit: Source link
