CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss unveiled his strategy for the network’s news division, placing a heavy emphasis on restoring trust in the news media while urging it to shift to streaming and build brands around talent.
“Our strategy so far has been to hang on to the audience that stays on broadcast television. If we stick to that strategy, we’re toast,” she told City Hall staffers Tuesday, according to her prepared remarks.
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Among other things, Weiss announced a new roster of contributors, a new leader of newsroom leaders and a shift to a “streaming mindset,” with CBS News 24/7 being “a laboratory for new formats and shows.”
She also said that the network will invest in brands such as 60 minutes, 48 hours and Sunday morning with podcasts, newsletters and live journalism.
She also talked about building brands around talent, which she called “Sorkin-ing,” a reference to Andrew Ross Sorkin, who is a New York Times print reporter, CNBC host, and live event producer, among other things.
“From now on, we must all focus on what we build, not what we maintain, on how we will reach an exponentially larger audience than we have now, by marrying the principles of journalism that will never change – seeking the truth, serving the public and fiercely protecting our independence, with the tools we constantly claim to be.”
She added that “if we’re able to create a common source of trust for the majority of people in America, I don’t think it’s too grandiose to say that we’re going to do our part to fix this country that we all love.”
Weiss also addressed the network’s ideological direction, telling employees that “our job is to present people with the most complete picture — and the strongest voices on all sides of an issue — and then trust them to make up their own minds.”
Weiss said that with low trust in mainstream news organizations, “many people have retreated to news sources that shield them from conflicting narratives.”
She said independents — a “large and growing” number — would be the ones who “have a home at CBS News.”
“That’s already our core audience,” she said, adding that the network is for “mixed crowds.”
She said that “to cover America as it really is, we in this building need to reflect more of the political friction that animates our national conversation. That means recruiting and hiring editors, reporters, producers and correspondents that our viewers will say, ‘They get me. They’ll give me a fair shake. They respect me.’
“We need to commission and greenlight stories that will surprise and challenge, including in our own newsroom.”
Weiss was hired last fall, a surprise to many news veterans because she had no television management experience. She was a former New York Times opinion writer until a high-profile departure led her to launch The Free Press, the opinion website. Paramount’s new ownership, led by CEO David Ellison, also acquired the site.
Her tenure so far has been notable for control and turmoil. She has already been the subject of profiles in The New Yorker and other publications, while the biggest controversy was her decision to withdraw a 60 minutes segment about Trump’s deportations, even though it had already been promoted. That prompted segment correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi to protest the move in a staff email, calling it political. Paramount is looking to buy Warner Bros. Discovery, something that will need approval from the Trump administration.
The news division has also gone through a round of layoffs, with more expected. Weiss did not address the job cuts in her prepared remarks.
In her staff meeting, Weiss referred to “the buzz around me, taking this job.”
She told the staff: “I do. I understand why, in the face of this uproar, you might feel unsure or skeptical about me or what I want to do here. I’m not going to sit here today and ask for your trust. I’m going to earn it, just like we do with our viewers.”
Her presentation was accompanied by a list of slides, including charts showing further declines in trust in the media, declining ratings for the nightly newscasts and a growing number of voters who identify as independents. She also showed a cartoon by Tim Urban showing a stick figure on a chart measuring human progress. The figure, however, is on top of a line showing exponential growth in progress.
“That little figure? It’s us. If you’re the person in the chart, things can [seem] normal because you can only see the past, not the future.”
All linear networks are dealing with shifting viewer habits to streaming and social media, but newsrooms have been built around linear TV, where many outlets still get most of their advertising revenue. CNN, led by Mark Thompson, has begun a newsroom integration effort with a greater focus on digital and the recent launch of a new subscription streaming offering.
“Our competitors aren’t just the other broadcast networks. We’re competing for the attention of anyone in front of a screen,” Weiss said.
Weiss said Tom Cibrowski, president and executive editor of CBS News, will also help lead the network’s business team, with Sam Siegel as chief operating officer. Sophia Efthimiatou, formerly head of writer relations at Substack, leads a new talent and brand team, with Angela Hunter as vice president of strategy and talent development and Tori Asness, formerly head of talent at Vice. Kyra Noonan, former head of development at Free Press, joins as vice president of development.
Weiss told employees to see the news division as “the most well-capitalized startup in the world, and that if “we all do our jobs right, in a year CBS News will look very different.” She also warned that if her plans “aren’t your bag”, there are “so many exciting things to spend your career doing”.
More to come.
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