Seven months after she was named editor-in-chief of CBS News, Bari Weiss is set to have a consequential summer as she overhauls the legacy news division and plots significant changes to tentpole shows like 60 Minutes and CBS Mornings.
But the Free Press founder’s plans may be impacted by the next deal that her boss, David Ellison, has in the works. If Ellison’s $111 billion play to merge Paramount with Warner Bros. Discovery goes through (it’s expected to close in September), it would bring together two large, legacy news organizations in CBS News and CNN. That could reshuffle the playbook that Weiss has been spending this year making and beginning to execute.
While Weiss outlined her vision for CBS in an all-hands meeting in January, aside from her reworking of the CBS Evening News around Tony Dokoupil, and some tweaks to the streaming lineup, many of her changes are yet to take hold.
“Our strategy until now has been to cling to the audience that remains on broadcast television,” she told staff at the time. “If we stick to that strategy, we’re toast.”
CBS News cut dozens of roles in March as part of that overhaul, and more changes are expected over the coming months.
“It’s no secret that the news business is changing radically, and that we need to change along with it,” Weiss and Tom Cibrowski wrote at the time. “New audiences are burgeoning in new places, and we are pressing forward with ambitious plans to grow and invest so that we can be there for them. That means some parts of our newsroom must get smaller to make room for the things we must build to remain competitive.”
To that end, a lot of Weiss’ work has been to develop a digital strategy that can help CBS escape linear on a lifeboat, with a slew of contributors (many of them familiar to readers of The Free Press), and other digital initiatives around podcasts especially taking center stage. But it is nonetheless her linear efforts that have garnered most of the attention, in particular Dokoupil’s slow start in the evenings (sources inside are hopeful that they are seeing early signs of a turnaround), and the looming changes expected to come to the mornings and Sundays.
Those changes are expected to begin over the course of the summer, when a long-anticipated shake-up at 60 Minutes is likely. Staff at CBS are anticipating the exit of Sharyn Alfonsi, and possibly other correspondents, as other names are expected to be added into the correspondent mix.
“I hope 60 Minutes remains 60 Minutes,” outgoing 60 correspondent Anderson Cooper said in an interview on CBS’ own 60 Minutes Overtime. “There’s very few things that have been around for as long as 60 Minutes has and maintain the quality that it has, and things can always evolve and change, and I think that’s awesome, and things should evolve and change, but I hope the core of what 60 Minutes is always remains.”
And then there’s CBS Mornings, which has quietly been testing out a number of names to join the show anchored by Gayle King and Nate Burleson. Following Dokoupil’s exit from the program late last year, Vladimir Duthiers has taken a more active role, though others have made guest appearances or done screen tests, such as former CBS and ABC anchor Josh Elliott.
The morning program is expected to get a more thorough overhaul later this summer, likely just before the fall broadcast season kicks into gear, with new on-air talent and a refreshed approach expected.
But the looming linear shake-up comes as Paramount is defending her tenure, which is just more than half a year in.
On Monday night Puck reported that “members of the senior leadership team have had informal discussions about changing Bari’s mandate at CBS News — and, eventually, CNN — in ways that would give her less control over the linear product. Paramount would look to bring in an executive who could manage that business.”
In a rare on-the-record statement pushing back, a Paramount spokesperson says that, “Bari has the full support of Paramount and David Ellison as the editorial leader overseeing CBS News and 60 Minutes. Reports suggesting otherwise are inaccurate.”
In fact, Weiss and CBS News executives have had conversations with TV news veterans who could join the company and help oversee some of its linear programming, sources say, though one of those people said it was their understanding that the role would report into Weiss, rather than bypass her. In other words, it would be in purpose of helping her achieve her vision, not undermining it.
While Weiss has a vision for CBS News, there is little doubt that her relative inexperience running a large news organization is a factor, and if she wants to be effective in her pursuit of overhauling CBS, delegation to trusted deputies will be necessary across linear and digital.
And with the looming addition of CNN to the Paramount portfolio, that news organization’s role in the combined company will only become more important. Sources have said that Paramount could close its deal sooner than people think (as in, within the next month or two) if they are able to secure regulatory approval in Europe, though an antitrust lawsuit from states could always throw a wrench into things.
Even if a deal closes in the next few months, any sort of merger between CBS News and CNN would take additional time given the complexities involved.
In fact, CNN and CBS News had held discussions decades ago about a tie-up, though logistical concerns around merging the unionized CBS newsroom and the non-union CNN newsroom had proven too big a hurdle to jump.
What role, if any, Weiss would have in a combined news operation is already top of mind for many at CNN, though executives at neither news division have any insight into what Ellison’s plans are as of now. It is entirely possible that leadership keeps Weiss at CBS, and installs someone new at CNN (or even keeps CNN chief Mark Thompson).
“Despite all the speculation you’ve read during this process, I’d suggest that you don’t jump to conclusions about the future until we know more,” Thompson told staff, after the Paramount deal was announced. “And secondly let’s not forget our duty to our audience. We’re still near the start of what is already an incredibly newsy year at home and abroad, one that will culminate with critical U.S. midterm elections and who knows what else. Let’s continue to focus on delivering the best possible journalism to the millions of people who rely on us all around the world.”
