The announcement of Bari Weiss as editor in chief of CBS News has sparked an internal firestorm, exposing tensions between legacy media insiders and a growing demand for accountability in journalism. Paramount confirmed Weiss’s appointment Monday, positioning the former New York Times opinion writer and Free Press founder to lead the struggling network.
Inside CBS, the reaction was swift — and hostile. One staffer told The Guardian, “A throwing up emoji is not enough of a reflection of the feelings in here.” Another described the mood as “depressing and doomsday – feels like some sort of doomsday.” Others vented anonymously to left-wing outlets like Zeteo and The Independent, with one exclaiming, “What the [expletive]?”
Critics outside the network joined in. Salon cited disgraced former anchor Dan Rather as a model journalist “who would oppose Weiss and her ‘political interference.’” MSNBC host Chris Hayes likened Weiss to “JD Vance,” while The Young Turks’ Cenk Uygur claimed, “She is indisputably biased towards Israel.”
Yet Weiss’s arrival comes as CBS loses roughly $50 million a year under new chief David Ellison, who reportedly plans to “right-size” operations. As one anonymous CBS journalist admitted, “We don’t know what the hell her job is going to be. I mean, ‘editor-in-chief’ – what does that even mean?”
For now, the Free Press founder’s biggest challenge may be proving that honest reporting still has a place in corporate media once dominated by ideological conformity.
