At the same time that CBS is being slammed with layoffs, an awkward number is circulating around the halls of the Tiffany Network.
Page Six hears that as staffers watch their colleagues pack up their desks, they’re also learning that the security detail for new CBSNews boss Bari Weiss costs the company five figures every day. Insiders tell us that eight bodyguards surround the Free Press founder at all times, and she’s shuttled around in a caravan of SUVs, much like the president and vice president.
And we’re told that the Bari Barrier costs $10,000 daily. The figure for the unprecedented detail would be eye-catching enough. But the leak comes as the struggling network lost 100 staffers in a bloodbath, which has affected those at every level of the storied news organization right up to Lisa Ling — the onetime “The View” co-host who announced last week that she’s been let go as a contributor.
There are even rumors that Gayle King, the network’s highest paid on-air personality, could be out at “CBS This Morning.” (King has said that she’s been told that the network wants to keep her.)
Weiss has — characteristically — been a divisive force at the network in her first few weeks at the helm.
The one-time New York Times opinion writer took over the news division — once home to Walter Cronkite, Dan Rather and Edward R. Murrow, among other news greats — in early October after CBS’s parent company Paramount bought her Substack newsletter, the Free Press, and appointed her to the position, despite her having essentially no experience in news. Paramount recently completed its $8 billion merger with Skydance.
Weiss has been a staunch Zionist, which one presumes — is the reason for the heavy security, especially after the assassination of fellow media personality Charlie Kirk.
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