Bari Weiss’ Daniel Pearl Memorial Lecture on “the future of journalism” at UCLA was canceled Tuesday amid student protests and online criticisms of the embattled CBS News editor-in-chief’s Feb. 27 appearance.
The annual lecture, held in remembrance of the late journalist Daniel Pearl, will be rescheduled at an unspecified date, an individual with knowledge of the event told TheWrap. Past participants include journalists Jake Tapper, Christine Amanpour and Bob Woodward.
Weiss’ lecture was met with unrest on the UCLA campus, with feminist peace organization CodePink organizing a student action to cancel the event back in January. Others on social media voiced concern that the university would platform Weiss to speak on the future of journalism as CBS News rides out censorship allegations, high-profile staff departures and looming layoffs under her leadership.
CBS declined to comment on the rescheduled lecture. UCLA did not immediately return TheWrap’s request for comment.
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“This is shameful, especially because Weiss has recently aligned herself with the Trump administration by attempting to cover up the fact that ICE agents are sending Venezuelan migrants to a torture center in El Salvador,” CodePink wrote on their call-to-action page, regarding a “60 Minutes” segment Weiss pulled late last year before ultimately airing it in January.
“She has a history of flagrant xenophobic remarks about Palestinians, Muslims, and Arabs, and prides herself on her extreme views,” CodePink continued. “Weiss has created a career writing opinions that hold no journalistic integrity, which do not reflect the values of the Daniel Pearl Lecture Series at the Burkle Center.”
The editor-in-chief was further lambasted as “a mouthpiece for the White House.”
Weiss’ scheduled UCLA appearance also came amid reports of CBS News’ expected layoffs this spring, which are expected to impact 15% of the staff.
As TheWrap previously reported, the exact extent and timing of the cuts remain unclear, but they could come as early as March or as late as May, and the plans remain fluid as the network aligns internally.
The cuts would be the second round of layoffs since David Ellison’s Skydance acquired CBS parent Paramount last year and let roughly 100 people go in October. They would, however, be the first round fully overseen by Weiss as she works to revamp the network.
Weiss told staff last month during a company town hall that she wanted to make CBS News “fit for purpose in the 21st century,” and NPR reported that her plans include employee cuts. After a staffer asked Weiss during the meeting whether her vision did include more cuts, Weiss said she couldn‘t rule out staff changes as part of the network’s transformation. Weiss also said she didn’t “have an answer” when asked if the San Francisco bureau’s streaming unit would survive “in the long run,” according to Status.
Since then, CBS News has offered voluntary buyouts to non-unionized “CBS Evening News” staffers. At least 11 of the show’s roughly 40 staffers have taken the buyouts as the show pursues a new direction under Weiss and anchor Tony Dokoupil.
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