CBS News head Bari Weiss has created a powerful new enemy within the network after her controversial decision to revamp the popular “60 Minutes” newsmagazine with a mass firing that blew up into front-page news.
According to media watchdog Status, the conflict has evolved from a news division firefight into a corporate-wide crisis, with CBS Entertainment chief Amy Reisenbach leading the charge against Weiss’s sweeping changes. Reisenbach has privately told associates that Hollywood creatives are expressing alarm over Weiss’s direction for the network, and she herself believes the news chief is inflicting “significant damage on the broader CBS brand” — creating headaches for other company leaders, including herself. The fallout extends into major business problems, according to the Status report. Reisenbach has reported that showrunners are approaching her in panic mode, questioning why they should continue developing broadcast programs for a network whose leadership appears to be abandoning linear television. New “60 Minutes” Executive Producer Nick Bilton’scharacterization of linear TV as “a rapidly melting ice cube” has only amplified those concerns. Even more damaging is that Hollywood insiders have expressed concern that Weiss is steering CBS toward what they perceive as a more MAGA-friendly editorial direction — a characterization that has spooked creative talent. Reisenbach is far from alone. Dozens of senior figures inside David Ellison’s Paramount, the parent company, share the view that Weiss is damaging the corporate brand. Some have gone further, believing she should be removed from her position entirely.
The internal revolt comes as CBS News battles a five-alarm crisis threatening the survival of “60 Minutes,” the flagship news program. After Weiss fired the show’s senior leadership team and correspondents Scott Pelley, Cecilia Vega, and Sharyn Alfonsi, other senior figures have begun evaluating their own departures. A CBS spokesperson declined to comment to Status’s Oliver Darcy on the internal discord.
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