The News
Bari Weiss hasn’t said much publicly about the direction she wants to take CBS News in. But her office meeting calendar is starting to show clues.
Status reported last week that Weiss had approached Fox News anchor Bret Baier about a potential role hosting the network’s flagship evening news program.
And Baier wasn’t the only person from the world of conservative media that Weiss has been speaking with: CNN personality Scott Jennings visited Weiss this week at CBS’ New York headquarters, Semafor has learned. A onetime Bush administration staffer, Jennings, as CNN’s primary defender of President Donald Trump, has elevated his profile by sparring nightly with Democrats on the network’s evening roundtable shows.
Max’s view
It’s unlikely that Weiss will succeed in plucking Baier from his longtime perch atop Fox News’ evening broadcast. But inside CBS, the mood remains tense: Staffers are bracing for Paramount-wide cuts that are expected in the coming days and are still adjusting to Weiss’ leadership mandate, beyond the initial shock of her selection.
One CBS staffer said despite some leaks of negative information, many employees have been much friendlier and open to her points of view in person. Another CBS insider noted that there have been some subtle shifts that seemed timed with her arrival, including an increasing frequency of people blaming “both sides” while discussing stories during CBS’ morning editorial calls.