Paramount defended CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss and disputed a report alleging that some at the company had informally discussed changing her mandate at the network to give her less control over TV.
“Bari has the full support of Paramount and David Ellison as the editorial leader overseeing CBS News and ’60 Minutes,’” a Paramount spokesperson told TheWrap on Tuesday. “Reports suggesting otherwise are inaccurate.”
A CBS News spokesperson referred to the Paramount statement.
A Monday Puck report said members of Paramount’s “senior leadership team” have had conversations about bringing in another executive to oversee the linear television component of CBS News — and, perhaps, CNN, should the Warner Bros. Discovery merger obtain federal approval.
This would reduce Weiss’ control over programs such as “CBS Evening News,” “60 Minutes” and “CBS Mornings,” per the report, reflecting the ratings woes each of those programs has endured since Weiss came aboard last year, despite not having any experience in television. (It is unclear who such a figure could be: Weiss reports to Ellison in her current role, while CBS News president Tom Cibrowski reports to Paramount TV chair George Cheeks.)
The move would instead have Weiss focus on the news side’s digital product while overseeing the larger editorial vision across CBS News, honing in on the opinion journalist’s expertise in the digital arena through her stints on the New York Times’ opinion desk and running the Free Press, the contrarian opinion site Paramount purchased for $150 million last year.
Since Weiss took over CBS News, she has either enacted or planned transformations to many of the network’s marquee programs.
She elevated Tony Dokoupil from the morning show to “Evening News” last year, though a short-lived ratings boost during his premiere has given way to multiple weeks of viewership below 4 million viewers. CBS News has also promised to “evolve” shows like “CBS Mornings” and has said it was excited about the “future” of “60 Minutes” as reports emerged about Weiss’ planned shake-up, which could see correspondents such as Sharyn Alfonsi exit the program.
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