CBS News staffers ‘utterly depressed’ now that a real journalist is in charge

OPINION:

The memo landed with a thud in the inboxes of CBS News staffers on Monday. Bari Weiss, the controversial columnist who famously quit The New York Times, decrying an “illiberal environment,” had been named their new editor-in-chief.

Ms. Weiss’ Substack-born publication, The Free Press, had just been acquired by Paramount for a reported $150 million, and she is now at the helm of one of America’s most storied news networks, land of fabled newsmen like Walter Cronkite and Edward R. Murrow. For a newsroom already reeling from 18 months of instability, the reaction was less than enthusiastic.

“A throwing up emoji is not enough of a reflection of the feelings in here,” one incensed CBS News employee texted a reporter at The Guardian. Another staffer was more direct: “It’s utterly depressing.”

The appointment of Ms. Weiss, a figure who built her brand on the premise that legacy media suffers from liberal groupthink, is the latest bombshell in a series of dramatic shifts at Paramount.

The company’s new CEO, David Ellison — son of tech mogul Larry Ellison — handpicked Ms. Weiss to, in his words, make CBS News “the most trusted name in news.” In his own memo, Mr. Ellison echoed Ms. Weiss’ call to tamp down partisanship, saying, “When we reduce every issue to ‘us vs. them’ or ‘my way vs. the wrong way,’ we close ourselves off from listening, learning and ultimately growing.”

But for many inside CBS, the move felt less like a step toward growth and more like a slap in the face. “Somebody who has zero experience in television news or even hard news for that matter … but with a clearly defined political agenda,” one staffer whined. “It’s hard to see this as anything more than an attempt to bend the knee completely.”

Ms. Weiss, for her part, attempted to strike a conciliatory tone in her introductory memo. “My goal in the coming days and weeks is to get to know you,” she wrote. “I want to hear from you about what’s working, what isn’t, and your thoughts on how we can make CBS News the most trusted news organization in America and the world.”

She outlined 10 “core journalistic values,” including a pledge to hold “both American political parties to equal scrutiny” and to embrace “a wide spectrum of views and voices so that the audience can contend with the best arguments on all sides of a debate.”

Her 10 principles call for journalism that:

• Reports on the world as it actually is.
• Is fair, fearless and factual.
• Respects our audience enough to tell the truth plainly — wherever it leads.
• Makes sense of a noisy, confusing world.
• Explains things clearly, without pretension or jargon.
• Holds both American political parties to equal scrutiny.
• Embraces a wide spectrum of views and voices so that the audience can contend with the best arguments on all sides of a debate.
• Rushes toward the most interesting and important stories, regardless of their unpopularity.
• Uses all the tools of the digital era.
• Understands that the best way to serve America is to endeavor to present the public with the facts, first and foremost.

Yet her message failed to land in a newsroom still grappling with uncertainty. Ms. Weiss was a no-show at the daily 9 a.m. editorial call on Monday, leaving CBS News President Tom Cibrowski — who will now report to her — to face a room that one employee described as “pretty stone-faced.”

The skepticism is palpable. “It’s been 18 months of lurching through reported mergers, legal threats, lawsuits, settlements, firings, yet another round of new leaders,” another employee told The Guardian. “Here we go again — having to introduce and prove ourselves to new leaders with more perceptions and less actual understanding of the ebbs and flows of this organization.”

Although some are adopting a “wait-and-see approach, the eye-watering price tag for The Free Press has done little to soothe anxieties, especially with the newsroom bracing for another round of cuts. “The price tag is pretty indefensible,” one staffer moaned.

The question on everyone’s mind is how Ms. Weiss will implement her vision. One current staffer speculated, “Ruling by edict from the top won’t be enough to change things. She’ll need lieutenants in the trenches cracking whips over our heads.”

As the dust settles, the only certainty at CBS News is more uncertainty. Ms. Weiss ended her memo with a magnanimous sign-off: “I’m profoundly honored to join you — and I can’t wait to get started.”

Whether the feeling will ever be mutual remains a breaking news story. But at least there’s a real journalist in charge now.

• Joseph Curl covered the White House and politics for a decade for The Washington Times. He can be reached at josephcurl@gmail.com and on Twitter @josephcurl.