Bari Weiss Memo Queries CBS News Staffers On What They Do; WGAE Warns Members Not To Respond Until They Get More Info — Update
UPDATED: Bari Weiss, the newly installed editor in chief of CBS News, sent out her first memo to staffers, asking them how they spend their working hours and what their ideas are for what is working and what is not.
“I hope you are as excited as I am about the prospect of elevating CBS News to its rightful place as No. 1: the most trusted and most consumed news source in the nation,” Weiss wrote. “So, I’m interested in any particular ideas you have to achieve this goal.”
Weiss asked staffers for a memo by Tuesday to “understand how you spend your working hours — and, ideally, what you’ve made (or are making) that you’re most proud of. I’m also interested in hearing your 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 said that she would use the memos as a “discussion guide” in individual meetings in the coming weeks.
Her note triggered concerns among staffers, though, amid expected upheaval in the division. That was reflected in a notice that the Writers Guild of America, East, sent to its members at the network. The guild said that they sent the company an “immediate demand” to provide more information about the email by Monday, including whether the employee responses will “be the basis for discipline, discharge, of layoff.” In the meantime, the union is recommending that their members do not respond until they have more information. Variety first reported on the WGAE note.
Reporting to David Ellison, the CEO of Paramount, Weiss is under a heavy level of scrutiny in her initial days, as there has been a level of wariness among a number of staffers given her background as an opinion writer and lack of experience in broadcast TV and its emphasis on breaking news. Those concerns are coupled with anxieties over Paramount’s plans for widespread layoffs later this year.
Weiss’ ascension to the top of CBS News came as the same time that Paramount purchased her site, The Free Press, reportedly for $150 million. Weiss will remain in charge of that publication as well.
CBS News has gone through leadership upheaval for years, with five presidents of the news division since 2019. That was the year that David Rhodes departed after eight years.
A CBS News spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
