It was an apocalyptic week in the world of media, where the polite veneer at CBS News was ripped away to reveal fear, loathing, betrayal and ultimately the murder of the most respected newsmagazine on television, “60 Minutes,” by Editor in Chief Bari Weiss.
Weiss’s name was everywhere on social media all weekend, with overwhelmingly negative backlash to her decision to fire Scott Pelley last week after firing the senior leadership days before that. The mess is creating a massive distraction for Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison at a time when he is trying to close a $110 billion deal to acquire Warner Bros Discovery.
The clamor around her, her clumsy communication, her ongoing shredding of the trust between CBS journalists and her executive suite can lead only to a singular question: when does it all become too much for Ellison?
I’ll back up a little for those who are not media obsessives like me. Ellison hired Weiss last fall and put her in the role of editor in chief in the hopes of realigning the legacy news organization in a more right-leaning direction, friendlier to a Trump administration that constantly obsesses over and attacks the media (and that had already sued CBS News under the previous owner, who settled a spurious Trump lawsuit).
Many warned at the time (including WaxWord) that Weiss’s utter lack of experience in either management or broadcast television news could be fatal at a complex global news organization like CBS News. But it turns out that her immaturity, disorganization and inability to learn from her mistakes has been even more damaging than her lack of experience.
With an eye to shaking CBS out of its legacy torpor and 3rd place in the ratings, Weiss immediately began making moves. She shifted morning newsman Tony Dokoupil to the CBS Evening News anchor slot and began featuring more right-wing interviews, including her own town hall with Erika Kirk.
But the CBS Evening News ratings have only continued to slide. Moving to the right was not bringing in viewers, who have stayed at Fox.
If her moves didn’t bring in new viewers, they did alienate the news staff, who felt ignored and disrespected. Indeed, Weiss did not directly unveil her plans to the staff until January, when she announced a bunch of hires, pronounced her devotion to journalistic principles and noted that she was planning to (finally) listen to the newsroom’s ideas.
Then she had a dust-up with “60 Minutes” over a story on the CECOT prison in El Salvador, which she pulled from its planned airing at the last minute to get comment from the Trump administration. It aired weeks later without getting any further comment.
Then late last month came the bloodbath firing of “60 Minutes” executive producer Tanya Simon, senior producers and correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi, who produced the CECOT story, and Cecilia Vega. In came a new EP Nick Bilton, with no television or management experience.
No explanation given.
The firings were seen everywhere as a move to kill the show, which makes money for CBS News, had seen its ratings rise by 9% last year and which wins awards, including two Emmys last month. The only real question was: Why?
And so Pelley pushed back, aggressively, in a staff meeting. He was fired a day later for his insubordination.
But the story does not end there. Because “murder” was a word used by an awful lot of observers in regard to the mishandling of changes at “60 Minutes” by Weiss. Pelley used the word in an explosive tell-all interview with the New York Times on Sunday, an hour-long video takedown that was intense, detailed and powerful.
He brought receipts for his accusations of pro-Trump interference in the reporting process, citing a carefully reported story on the ICE killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti and emails from Weiss that asked for changes that reflected Trump’s misrepresentation of those deaths. Pelley didn’t make them.
Weiss came in with “hardened, preconceived notions that had not been thought through,” he said.
He called his bosses “callous” and inexperienced. He shed tears over the wanton destruction and disrespect shown by management.
And then Pelley concluded what seemed to him to be evident at this point: Weiss needs to be replaced.
“We need adult supervision and at the moment we don’t have it.” The trust, he said, is broken between leadership and CBS journalists. “It’s possible to land this plane,” he said. “But right now CBS News is on fire.”
After all that shouting, one thing is pretty clear: Bari Weiss is a disaster as editor in chief of CBS News. And she has fast become a liability for Ellison, who hired her in the hopes of calming the waters with Trump. Instead, she lit a dumpster fire for the vast CBS News organization, which she keeps managing to reignite.
One company insider described Weiss as a lethal combination of “inexperienced and arrogant.” That’s not hard to believe.
And even a sympathetic PR executive who despises “60 Minutes” and describes Pelley as having a combination of “self-righteousness, pretentiousness and hubris” called Weiss out for a “self-inflicted wound.”
“CBS is overdue for a change,” said this executive. “But she found a way to make it harder every step of the way. Instead of dealing with people, she came in guns blazing. So she just played into the Trump derangement syndrome. She made it so much harder by antagonizing people. Instead of listening.”
Now we will see whether Ellison agrees.
Previous WaxWords on Bari Weiss:
Letter to Bari Weiss: CBS News Is Your Date With Destiny and the Chance of a Lifetime
Bari Weiss: Soaring Words for CBS, but Your Solutions Are Fuzzy
Bari Weiss Undoing ‘60 Minutes’ Feels Like Her Most Reckless Move Yet | Analysis
Turmoil at ’60 Minutes,’ What Next for Scott Pelley and Bari Weiss
