A day after Paramount named her the editor-in-chief of CBS News and announced they had purchased her anti-woke digital outlet The Free Press, Bari Weiss told network staffers in a morning editorial call that she wants to “win” before delivering a rallying cry.
“Let’s do the f***ing news,” she declared, adding that she was excited for the CBS News staff to get to know The Free Press.
Weiss’ Sorkinesque call to journalistic arms, which seems to be paraphrased from the critically polarizing series The Newsroom, prompted some staffers to literally roll their eyes in response, according to multiple sources on the Tuesday morning call.
“I’m not joking,” a CBS News employee stated. “She actually said that.”
The same employee added that there were “eye rolls for sure” and that Weiss was “cosplaying as a broadcast journalist.” Another reporter, meanwhile, described Weiss’ remarks as “cringey movie references and a half-a**ed pep talk” about winning and doing “the f***ing news.”
The Independent has reached out to CBS News and Weiss for comment.
The sarcastic reaction from some CBS journalists to Weiss’ first full proclamation to the newsroom isn’t entirely unexpected, considering that much of the staff had not only expressed trepidation over her impending arrival but were “literally freaking out” over the wholesale changes new Paramount owner David Ellison was implementing at the Tiffany network.
“It’s not a good place now,” one staffer told The Independent last week. “There was a proper way to do this and a not proper way, and they’re doing it in the non-proper way, and maybe that’s by design.”
Weiss, who considers herself a “radical centrist” and is known for her stridently pro-Israel stance, is likely to face a tough time gaining respect in the newsroom, as many view her as a “political operative” with no real experience in broadcast journalism.
On top of that, as sources have told The Independent, CBS News is already “not a welcoming place for outsiders,” noting that “the idea that somebody that we don’t want is going to come in here and somehow manage to survive this is, I think, laughable.”
Elsewhere on the Tuesday morning call, CBS News President Tom Cibrowski also attempted to hype up Weiss to the staff, saying that her “energy and passion is infectious and you will feel it, big time.” Cibrowski added that CBS News and The Free Press “are going to learn a lot from each other,” which is “what this is all about.”
Cibrowski’s comment seemed to echo much of what Ellison stated when he introduced Weiss as the editor-in-chief in a lengthy email to staff on Monday.
“I’ve seen the Bari who you will get to know: a person of incredible energy, judgment, and perception for what will resonate with audiences,” Ellison wrote. “Working alongside our exceptionally talented colleagues at CBS News, she will help ensure that our reporting remains relevant, accessible, and — most importantly —trusted in this new era for American media.”
Ellison, whom sources have said has lost the trust of the newsroom for seemingly going back on his promise not to “politicize” the network following the politically tainted Paramount-Skydance merger, has implemented a rather unusual organizational chart in the wake of Weiss’ hiring.
Rather than report to Paramount television chief George Cheeks, who himself reports to Paramount President Jeff Shell, Weiss is directly under Ellison. Cibrowski, on the other hand, reports to Cheeks and will work alongside Weiss.
“It is not hard to read those tea leaves,” Status News’ Oliver Darcy noted in his Monday night newsletter. “Indeed, I’m told Weiss is already reaching out to friends about jobs, while Cibrowski is tasked with finding the painful CBS News cuts Paramount plans for later this year, likely November.”
While Darcy warned that “CBS should brace for a heavy dose of bothsidesism” based on Weiss outlining that she wants to hold “both American political parties to equal scrutiny,” other commentators have crowed that Weiss “has won the war on wokeness in media” while applauding “the staggering nature” of her ascension to the top ranks of broadcast news.
The New York Times’ Jessica Testa further broke down just exactly “how Bari Weiss won” in a deep-dive, all while attempting to explain just what the former New York Times columnist – who famously quit the paper in 2020 over it’s “illiberal environment” – appears to stand for.
“She is richer in social clout than in Emmys or Pulitzers. And she is known more for wanting to rid the world of so-called wokeness than for promoting journalistic traditions. While newsroom leaders do not traditionally trumpet their personal beliefs, Ms. Weiss has described herself as a ‘left-leaning centrist,’ a ‘radical centrist,’ ‘a gay woman who is moderately pro-choice’ — she is married to Nellie Bowles, a former Times reporter who is a co-founder of The Free Press — and a proud recipient of the label ‘Zionist fanatic.’” Testa wrote.
“Yet she has also come to symbolize the power and potential of independent media. Her world is a patchwork of podcasts, newsletters and videos built around a common idea that legacy outlets have lost their authority and connection with readers,” Testa continued. “With that power up for grabs, several younger outlets have spent the last few years jostling for it: The Bulwark, Punchbowl News, Puck, Semafor.”
As for what Ellison’s endgame here is, Business Insider’s Peter Kafka said that the purchase of The Free Press – which Paramount acquired for $150 million – “isn’t a financial bet, it’s a cultural one.” While it appears that Ellison is “buying alignment” and not revenue, according to Kafka, it remains to be seen what he’s trying to align CBS News with.
“Maybe Ellison, who previously supported Democrats — or his father, Larry Ellison, an open Trump supporter — genuinely believes the media is too liberal and needs to be moved rightward,” Kafka wrote. “Or maybe he’s simply appeasing Trump and his allies, like [Federal Communications Comssion] chair Brendan Carr, who had real power to slow or stop his merger. Either explanation fits the facts. But that’s exactly the problem: We can’t tell which one is true. And that uncertainty is what defines this moment in American business and media.”
Some staffers, however, feel that Ellison’s partnership with Weiss and The Free Press largely comes down to one underlying issue.
“A major reason why this deal is happening is The Free Press’ unflinching pro-Israeli stance and Larry Ellison and his son David Ellison’s close ties to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,” Breaker reported last week.
“He’s essentially going to hand the keys to the kingdom to Bari Weiss and to anyone and everyone who is an ideologue that supports his and his father’s world,” a CBS reporter told The Independent.
