During her first address to CBS News employees as editor in chief, Bari Weiss acknowledged that there had been “a lot of noise” about her tumultuous tenure and said that some staffers might decide they don’t support her or want to continue working at the company.
“I just want to start by saying: I get it. And I get why, in the face of all this tumult and noise, you might feel uncertain or skeptical about me and about what I’m aiming to do here,” Weiss said on Tuesday morning, according to an audio recording of her comments obtained by the Guardian.
“So I’m not going to stand up here today in front of all of you and ask for your trust: I’m going to earn it, just like we have to do with our viewers. What I can give you is what I’ve always tried to give my readers and listeners as a journalist: and that is transparency, clarity and straight talk.”
Weiss, who shared her broader strategy for the network for the first time since joining the network in October after her company The Free Press was acquired by Paramount Skydance for a reported $150m, said that her goal is to “make CBS News fit for purpose in the 21st century”.
As part of the new strategy that Weiss laid out, CBS News announced the addition of 18 new on-air contributors, including prominent names from the world of politics, academia and culture – though some have faced controversy. The list includes medical expert Mark Hyman, historian Niall Ferguson, neuroscientist Andrew Huberman and former national security adviser H R McMaster.
Ending her opening remarks, Weiss acknowledged that her plans might not be for everyone.
“We are the best-capitalized media startup in the world,” she said. “We have the talent, we have the energy, and we have the mandate to transform CBS News. And if everyone here does their jobs right, and together, in a year’s time CBS News is going to look different. But startups aren’t for everybody. … If that’s not your bag, that’s OK. It’s a free country, and I completely respect if you decide I’m not the right leader for you, or this isn’t the right place at the right time.”
She said the network’s transformation will be “one hell of a fight. But I don’t just think that we can win it, I know that we can. I took this job because I believe that in my bones, and because frankly, I don’t want to live in an America where there is no trust in our great institutions any more. And CBS News is one of those institutions.”
She then provided some tough talk for her skeptical staff: “The honest truth is: right now we are not producing a product that enough people want.”
Weiss said that “not enough people trust us”, referring to declines in trust in the mainstream media, and that CBS News was not sufficiently reaching viewers via new formats.
“Our strategy until now has been: cling to the audience that remains on broadcast television,” she said. “I’m here to tell you that if we stick to that strategy, we’re toast. Starting now, we have to focus on what we’re building, not on what we’re maintaining.”
Talking about the network’s editorial positioning, Weiss said that CBS News was “for the center, we’re for the center-right, and we’re for the center-left. And that is the vast majority of the company – that’s who we need to reach.”
She also said the network plans to invest more resources in “producing revelatory journalism every day, which I think is the only kind that’s going to matter in the 21st century”.
Asked by a staffer during the question-and-answer portion of the town hall about her decision to hold a 60 Minutes segment slated to air in December about Venezuelans sent to a notorious Salvadorian prison, Weiss seemed to evince some regret. “It’s always going to be my prerogative as editor of this newsroom to say that I want more information and to push to get new information,” she said. “Now, am I ever going to hold something again after it has been put out there with promos? I don’t want to make that exact same decision again. No, I do not.”
The show ultimately aired the segment on 18 January, but it still lacked an on-camera interview with a member of the Trump administration, which Weiss had pushed for.
“As to why did I hold it … That specific logistical nightmare – that’s never going to happen again,” she said, telling staff she didn’t know the screening schedule for 60 Minutes segments because she is new to the company. “So please rest assured that nothing of that kind is ever going to happen again.”
In response to another question, Weiss denied that Paramount Skydance’s chief executive, David Ellison, “pressured” her to hold the story. She said her only conversations with Ellison have been about “fairness”.
One CBS News staffer, who was not authorized to comment, described Tuesday’s town hall as “so produced” and “so forced” – though Weiss took a number of employee questions and was greeted with a large round of applause as the event concluded.
One of the questions posed to Weiss – which were submitted anonymously by employees – conveyed some of the concerns that CBS News staffers have had over the first three and a half months of her tenure.
“Certain decisions and editorial choices have scared us,” a staffer wrote in the question, which was read aloud by an anchor at CBS News. “At Evening News, people are afraid for their jobs and afraid to even speak for fear of retaliation. There has been a chilling effect within our newsroom. It feels right now like if we offer feedback, alternatives, or constructive criticism, that we are asking for targets on our backs – or the answer is simply no.”
The morning show host Gayle King offered something of a rallying cry for CBS employees near the end of the event, acknowledging and dismissing rumors about her potential departure.
“We’ve had a lot of incoming,” King said. “People come and pet me like a puppy and say, ‘I’m so sorry that you’re leaving CBS. I won’t watch you guys again. And it’s not the same place.’ And when I come here, what I see every day are people who really love what they do.”
King praised Weiss for laying out a vision for the network. “For many people, they’ve never even heard your freaking voice,” she said. “So it’s good for them to see you’re a real person and this is what you want and how you feel about us and how you feel about this job.”
