The Writers Guild of America East, the union that represents a portion of CBS News staffers, urged its members to hold responses to a memo sent by editor-in-chief Bari Weiss until it gets more information on its purpose, signifying an early tension point between the newly installed editor and the staff she’s set to lead.
Weiss on Friday asked staffers to submit a memo by Tuesday outlining “how you spend your working hours — and, ideally, what you’ve made (or are making) that you’re most proud of.” The goal of the email, she said, was to get their views on “what’s working; what’s broken or substandard; and how we can be better.”
“Please be blunt — it will help me greatly,” she wrote. Weiss took hold of CBS News on Monday after David Ellison’s Paramount completed its $150 million acquisition of The Free Press, Weiss’ “anti-woke” news operation.
“We are aware that Bari Weiss sent an email asking CBS employees to provide information about their jobs and feedback about CBS News. Many of you have expressed concern to us about the purpose of the email, and we share those concerns,” it said in a memo to its members, according to Variety. “That is why we sent the company an immediate demand to provide information about the email by Monday. We suggest that you refrain from responding until we are able to share the information that we receive so that you can make an informed decision by the Tuesday deadline.”
The WGA and CBS News, respectively, did not respond to immediate requests for comment. The union represents a segment of CBS News and CBS News Digital employees, all of whom now under Weiss’ direction.
The memo was sent by WGA Director of Broadcast/Cable/Streaming News Michael Issac and field representatives Brandon West, Sophie Martin and Dana Trentalange. They said they asked the network questions who received Weiss’ Friday note, who would have access to the memos, whether the responses will “be the basis for discipline, discharge, or layoff,” and if the company or Weiss will use AI to review the memo.
Weiss said on Friday the memos would be held “in the strictest of confidence,” used as a guide for the conversations she plans to have with CBS News staffers over the coming days and weeks.
The 41-year-old media executive has already tried to put her stamp on the network’s coverage, organizing a Middle East roundtable on Friday moderated by correspondent Norah O’Donnell with former Secretaries of State Hillary Clinton and Condoleezza Rice to discuss the hostage and ceasefire deal between Israel and Gaza. It aired on CBS News’ 24/7 streaming channel.
