When CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss addressed staff during Monday’s 9 a.m. editorial call, she began by talking about “trust,” both “our trust for each other and our trust with the public.”
But Weiss already damaged that trust the previous evening when “60 Minutes” announced that it was abruptly pulling veteran correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi’s report on the “brutal and torturous conditions” Venezuelan migrants endured after the Trump administration deported them to a notorious El Salvador prison.
“I held a 60 Minutes story because it was not ready,” Weiss told staff Monday, suggesting the piece “did not advance the ball” beyond what other outlets had reported. “We need to be able to get the principals on the record and on camera,” she added. “Our viewers come first. Not the listing schedule or anything else. That’s my north star and I hope it’s yours, too.”
And then? Crickets.
“Everyone in the newsroom in New York noticed the silence of the executives after Bari spoke,” one staffer told TheWrap. Weiss turned to Wendy Fisher, senior vice president of editorial for CBS News and Stations, who continued the editorial call focused on the news of the day, and without addressing a decision that has upended the newsroom.
Holding a story for additional reporting or comment happens in newsrooms all the time. But the circumstances surrounding Weiss’ decision are anything but normal. Weiss arrived at CBS News in October with political baggage and no experience in broadcast television. This was Weiss’ first major test as a network executive, weighing the merits of a “60 Minutes” investigative story that might inflame the president — and she bungled it.
Even if Weiss had legitimate journalistic concerns, as she claims, and as an insider says she articulated behind-the-scenes, she mishandled them by allowing the piece to be widely promoted for days before abruptly pulling it Sunday evening with little explanation beyond the segment needing “additional reporting” and vague plans to air it in a “in a future broadcast.”
Into that vacuum came a leaked email from Alfonsi, an award-winning correspondent with decades of TV news experience. Alfonsi suggested Weiss made a “political” decision to hold her story, noting that the segment “was screened five times and cleared by both CBS attorneys and Standards and Practices.” Outside the network, critics feared Weiss was placating Donald Trump.
Weiss has been under a microscope since David Ellison, fresh off merging Skydance with Paramount, bought her anti-woke news and opinion site, The Free Press, for $150 million in October and installed her to the newly created position of CBS News editor-in-chief. She hasn’t stayed behind the scenes, taking it upon herself this month to interview Erika Kirk, the wife of slain Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, rather than tasking a seasoned correspondent or anchor with the job.
That’s not surprising as Weiss is a media personality who has never shied away from offering opinions on social media, podcasts or high-profile platforms like Bill Maher’s HBO show. She became a magnet for controversy during her time at the New York Times, where she was an opinion writer and editor, and has continued causing controversy sine launching the right-leaning Free Press on Substack in 2022.
Weiss may be a novice when it comes to television news, but she isn’t naive about politics. She surely must have known that yanking a hard-hitting story in a haphazard way would cause a firestorm, and be perceived as a political gesture on behalf of Trump, who has had tempestuous relationship with “60 Minutes.” And holding the story would inevitably turn the spotlight on her and Trump’s relationships with the Ellisons, and how CBS parent company Paramount has responded in the past to the president’s demands.
CBS News initially dismissed Trump’s 2024 suit against “60 Minutes” as “without merit,” but wound up settling with the president for $16 million in July as Paramount was seeking FCC approval to merge with Ellison’s Skydance. One of Ellison’s early moves was appointing a former CEO of a conservative think tank as the network’s ombudsman, a role the company committed to filling during the regulatory process.
In November, Trump gushed about the new ownership in a November “60 Minutes” appearance, telling Norah O’Donnell that he “sees good things happening.”
Trump has spoken favorably about Weiss and Ellison, the son of Trump-supporting billionaire and Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison. David Ellison’s Paramount is currently trying to take over Warner Bros. Discovery, with backing of Larry, all as Trump injects himself in the deal in unprecedented fashion. Trump has said that CNN, a subsidiary of WBD, should be put under new management as part of a deal. Both Larry and David Ellison have reportedly spoken to Trump officials about making sweeping changes at CNN.
Meanwhile, Weiss wants Paramount to land WBD, as TheWrap previously reported, given that joining forces with a global outlet like CNN could translate to more resources and opportunities. And Trump wants to be treated better by “60 Minutes,” saying twice in the past week that the new management has treated worse, including at a Friday rally in North Carolina.
Given this thicket of potential conflicts of interest, Weiss’ decision got the attention of Anna M. Gomez, the lone Democratic FCC commissioner, who said Monday that “against the backdrop of increased government pressure, reports that CBS News interfered with the editorial judgment of 60 Minutes are deeply alarming and strike at the heart of press freedom.”
Gomez added that “the public has the right to question how CBS will ensure the independence and integrity of its journalism going forward” and hopes the network “proves its viewers with clear accounting of how this decision was made and demonstrates how it will safeguard the independence of its newsroom.”
CBS News did not make Weiss available for an interview.
Bari’s bind
Since Weiss made the decision to hold the story, the public will see her fingerprints on how it eventually airs — and especially if doesn’t.
On Monday, “60 Minutes” executive producer Tanya Simon tried to allay staff concerns, according to the Washington Post, while defending Alfonsi’s report. Simon said Weiss “had a different vision for how the piece should be,” and despite pushing back, she “ultimately had to comply.”
What’s next? Does Weiss use her clout in the Trump White House to convince, say, senior adviser Stephen Miller, to discuss the deportations on camera? If so, how would the administration’s perspective be factored into a piece alongside people who, according to Alfonsi, “risked their lives” to participate. And what if Team Trump still refuses to play ball? Does the piece just not run?
The deportation story, in which Trump officials apparently wouldn’t speak, may keep coming up come up when the network brings Trump officials on the air. Vice President JD Vance is already scheduled to participate in the next CBS News and Free Press town hall.
A second staffer told TheWrap that they considered Weiss to be “incredibly hands off” since she became CBS News’ top editor, which is why the “60 Minutes” intervention was so striking. “Geez, what a moment to choose,” the staffer said.
Now, when the segment airs, and in what shape, could be a litmus test for Weiss’ relationship with the newsroom.
“Let’s see how long it takes to air,” the staffer said.
Corbin Bolies contributed reporting
The post Bari Weiss Is Eroding Fragile Trust at CBS News | Analysis appeared first on TheWrap.
