ZUMA Press Wire via Reuters Connect, Leigh Vogel/Getty Images for Uber, X and The Free Press
What would a Bari Weiss era at CBS News look like?
That question has been pondered this week across drinks and in text chains in the media world. The catalyst: reports from Puck and other outlets that Paramount Skydance is closing in on a deal to buy Weiss’ news startup The Free Press and install her in a leadership role at CBS News. Paramount and The Free Press declined to comment.
Shaking up CBS News has been a stated — if nebulous — goal of new Paramount chief David Ellison. When Ellison met the press in August after the merger of Paramount and Skydance, he said he wanted to reach as wide an audience as possible with CBS News and that there were areas where the newsroom could “do better,” without offering specifics.
Weiss, who left The New York Times in 2020 with a public, anti-woke resignation letter, could inject a different sensibility into CBS News. She’s known for bucking liberal and conservative orthodoxy and taking strong stances on particular topics like Israel and college-campus speech. If Weiss tried to push more commentary into the equation, she could face resistance at the network known for its iconic straight-news program “60 Minutes.” It also might not work for the audience and advertisers trying to reach them.
“Trying to broaden your audience by bringing in different points of view is rarely successful, particularly with network news,” said Cathy Rasenberger, a TV industry consultant. “The median age for network news is 65. They’re very loyal to their particular source of news, and when they feel that the source is disloyal, they’ll switch.”
TV insiders and analysts said Weiss’ biggest potential value would be in helping CBS News improve its digital chops and reach a younger audience.
Allie Kosterich, a communications professor at Fordham University, said there could be upside in expanding CBS News’ streaming footprint, helped by The Free Press’ personality-driven programming.
The Free Press has amassed 1.5 million subscribers, including about 170,000 paying ones, and also reaches people through live events, podcasts, and video.
Kosterich said she sees opinion-led content helmed by Weiss working well as livestreams and clips on platforms like YouTube. There’s also an opening for long-form interviews, diverse debates, and culturally broad stories.
TV news has been on the wane
It’s unclear how much an editorial shake-up could move the needle for a broadcast news network, given the ongoing shift in TV viewer behavior. Broadcast hit a new low at 18.4% of TV viewership in July, according to Nielsen.
Some see that as an opportunity for a more wide-ranging overhaul.
“Unlike entertainment and sports, network news audiences shift at a glacial pace,” said Mitch Metcalf, a TV analyst and former NBC executive. “CBS News has been stuck in third place for decades in most dayparts, a pale imitation of ABC and NBC News. A fundamental shift in both style and substance is exactly what CBS News needs. There is not much downside risk to a bold move — only upside.”
Terry Moran, a former ABC News anchor who was dropped by the network after he criticized President Donald Trump on social media, said Weiss could help CBS News transition to new platforms where journalism is flourishing. He thinks she could also bring “healthy friction.”
“Viewpoint diversity will make things better,” Moran said. “There’s a monoculture and monothink in established media, and breaking that can only be good.”
If Weiss pulled CBS News to the right, it would come into competition with Fox News and Newsmax.
“The right-wing media landscape is already fairly crowded,” said Victor Pickard, a media professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication.
“To move the needle, this deal would have to differentiate from Fox News and ‘cable-shout,'” Kosterich said.
The biggest obstacle: the newsroom
The main challenge for Weiss could be winning over the newsroom, which has been under tremendous political pressure.
Before the merger, Paramount agreed to pay $16 million to settle Trump’s lawsuit over a “60 Minutes” interview with Kamala Harris that accused CBS of “deceptive editing.” Lawmakers questioned whether the settlement was politically motivated. CBS said it was purely a financial decision.
In an extraordinary move, the FCC approved the merger on condition that the new company would present a diversity of political and ideological viewpoints and appoint an ombudsman to evaluate complaints of bias.
Just this Friday, CBS News said it would cease editing taped interviews with newsmakers who appear on “Face the Nation” — a standard practice — after Trump appointee Kristi Noem complained about cuts to her appearance on the show. CBS News attributed the change to “audience feedback.”
In this climate, any pulling of the newsroom away from its straight-news roots risks an internal uproar.
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