Producer Alicia Hastey departed CBS News on Wednesday after four years with the network, blasting Bari Weiss’ break from “journalistic merit” in a fiery exit note.
“It is with sadness that I write to tell you that I am taking a buy out and today was my last day in the Broadcast Center,” Hastey wrote in a statement. “I joined the network four years ago with gratitude and optimism and I want to leave you with these thoughts only as a reminder of things I know you already know.”
She continued: “I am proud of the work that’s been done in my time here: segments that aimed to foreground underrepresented perspectives, interviews that challenged conventional wisdom and effort to make our journalism more responsive to a skeptical public.”
However, Hastey bemoaned that “a sweeping new vision” has prioritized “a break from traditional broadcast norms to embrace what has been described as ‘heterodox’ journalism.”
“The truth is that commitment to those people and the stories they have to tell is increasingly becoming impossible,” she added. “Stories may instead be evaluated not just on their journalistic merit but on whether they conform to a shifting set of idealogical expectations — a dynamic that pressures producers and reporters to self-censor or avoid challenging narratives that might trigger backlash or unfavorable headlines.”
While Hastey noted that this sentiment didn’t detract “from the talent of the journalists who remain at CBS News,” she called this shift in the industry “so heartbreaking,” adding, “The very excellence we seek to sustain is hindered by fear and uncertainty.” Representatives for CBS News did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.
Though Hastey did not name Weiss specifically, her criticism came a little over two weeks after the editor-in-chief of CBS News revealed her “21st century” vision for the storied broadcaster at a town hall forum. The discussion coincided with CBS News announcing 19 contributors, a wide-ranging group of voices spanning tech and lifestyle, history and economics, politics and more.
“We have to start by looking honestly at ourselves,” Weiss said at the time. “We are not producing a product that enough people want.”
Prior to this update, Weiss faced blowback in December when she chose to pull a “60 Minutes” segment about Venezuelans being deported by the Trump administration to a prison in El Salvador hours before it was set to air. She stood by her decision in multiple comments to CBS News staff, however, saying the piece was just “not ready.”
“While the story presented powerful testimony of torture at CECOT, it did not advance the ball — the [New York] Times and other outlets have previously done similar work,” she wrote at the time. “The public knows that Venezuelans have been subjected to horrific treatment at this prison. To run a story on this subject two months later, we need to do more.”
The segment later aired on Jan. 18, drawing in over 5 million viewers.
