The News
Bari Weiss has long held a strong point of view on US policy toward Iran. Now she’s testing to what extent that perspective should dictate the television broadcast network she runs.
On Saturday, the new CBS News editor-in-chief appended a fire emoji to a retweet of a clip of Masih Alinejad, an Iranian dissident journalist who has reportedly been targeted by the regime in the past for assassination, speaking out against a statement made by New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who said the attacks “mark a catastrophic escalation in an illegal war of aggression.”
“Mr. Mamdani, you are more than welcome to come to one of my safe houses,” Alinejad wrote.
The tweet quickly ricocheted around CBS News, where staff noted Weiss’ seeming willingness to express her political point of view about the mayor. Critics of the network argued that it violated CBS’ standards of maintaining objectivity.
Weiss appeared unfazed. Despite the fact that she had lost her voice by 10PM, Alinejad was back in the studio for the network’s special evening broadcast for another interview, this time with host Tony Doukopil.
The joint Israeli and American attacks on Iran were the first major test of how the new CBS News’ right-leaning and pro-Israel editorial leadership would cover a major story that was directly within The Free Press’ ideological sphere.
Three CBS staffers told Semafor that Weiss has been more engaged in directing coverage of the Iran protests and US military buildup in recent weeks than almost anything else in her time at the helm of CBS News. Two people familiar with the contents of the meetings said that Weiss has regularly asked during the network’s 9 am morning calls if staff can share the latest updates on Iran, and what the network’s plans for coverage are. Weiss has used her rolodex to book guests related to the topic.
And after the strikes, it was Weiss and network president Tom Cibrowski who decided to quickly program and book a CBS Evening News special 10 pm Saturday broadcast, which featured an intro by CBS News anchor Tony Dokoupil trumpeting the demise of Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and interviews with a number of guests who lauded the attack, including Free Press and CBS contributor Elliot Ackerman and Republican Rep. Rick Crawford. The duo managed the evening’s broadcast from the CBS control room in New York.
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Max’s view
The coverage of Iran, and specifically Saturday’s broadcast, was the strongest indication yet of what CBS News is likely to look like under Weiss.
The Saturday special saw the closer marriage between Weiss’ anti-woke, pro-Israel digital outlet, The Free Press, and the traditionally far more buttoned up CBS News; multiple guests who appeared on the Free Press web broadcast, like conservative political commentator Douglas Murray, also were featured on the network’s broadcast later that evening. Instead of just relying on the network’s standard correspondents, the network’s broadcast seemed to lean equally on Free Press favorites and proponents for Iran strikes.
Weiss’ approach has paid some dividends.
At times, the CBS editor-in-chief has seemed to be more in touch with the changing geopolitical dynamics in Trump’s Washington than other international journalists in the newsroom. Weiss took the recent Iranian protests seriously, asking staff during one morning call if the new round of protests could be the wave that topples the regime, leading to skepticism from some journalists in London. Some in the newsroom who have been skeptical of her approach acknowledged to Semafor that she has been early in recognizing how certain stories bubbling up on conservative X could change the direction of events, including the Minnesota fraud narrative and the recent battle between the Pentagon and Anthropic. Weiss herself booked an exclusive interview with Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, Semafor has learned.
But while she has proved to be very in touch with the current geopolitical maneuvering of the right’s foreign policy in Washington, her outspoken approach poses the obvious long-term programming risks that largely keep television broadcast leaders from posting on X.
Weiss’ zealous tweeting resulted in the editor-in-chief sharing false information. Weiss on Saturday reposted a tweet from Iranian-born former Trump administration official Ellie Cohanim, who claimed that Saudi Arabia was joining the US and Israeli operation against Iran. (Cohanim later deleted the post.)
Democrats and their communications staffers are also warily keeping tabs on her strongly-held views on subjects where they disagree. Saturday’s tweet certainly won’t help Weiss get Mamdani to appear on the network. The new mayor so far has declined CBS’ overtures to go on the air; a spokesperson for the mayor’s office declined to offer a response to Weiss.
How Weiss continues to shape the network and where she feels comfortable breaking traditional boundaries around objectivity will likely define the next several years of CBS, and perhaps another television network soon.
The View From The Control Room
On a programming level, the crisis has showcased Weiss’ quicker, social-media-centric metabolism and digital-friendly approach. In an unusual move, the network shared the entire 10 pm special in full on YouTube, where it performed decently, drawing more than 140,000 views on the platform by midday Sunday.
The desire for more speed also demonstrated some of the internal clumsiness Weiss and her close inner circle have lamented on the technical side. An on-air package by Charlie D’Agata on the strikes initially did not feature a planned voiceover, forcing the senior national security correspondent to stumble through a setup while the network tried to fix the issue.