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CBS News plans to imminently cut dozens of employees as Bari Weiss remakes the broadcast network

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CBS News is planning to shed dozens of staffers as top editor Bari Weiss reshapes the storied broadcast network, Business Insider has learned.

The network plans to announce the layoffs imminently, a source with direct knowledge told Business Insider.

Weiss foreshadowed these cuts some weeks ago, telling CBS News employees at a late-January all-hands meeting that a “tsunami of technological change” could force staffing changes at the network.

“I can’t stand up here and tell you that in a moment of incredible transformation that that’s not going to mean transformation of our workforce,” Weiss told staffers at the town hall.

When asked about specific personnel changes at the town hall, Weiss said CBS needs to shift away from undifferentiated “commodity news” toward exclusive reports that people “can’t get anywhere else.”

“If you can get what we’re selling in five other places, in 10 other places, in 100 other places — that’s probably not a thing we need to double down on,” Weiss said.

Eleven employees on “CBS Evening News” took buyouts last month as former “CBS This Morning” cohost Tony Dokoupil became anchor, multiple outlets reported. Business Insider could not independently confirm the figure.

CBS News is also growing in certain areas. The broadcast network brought on over a dozen new contributors in January, and Weiss has said she’s looking to hire more people who can help CBS transform into a digital-focused company.

“Our strategy until now has been to cling to the audience that remains on broadcast television. I’m here to tell you that if we stick to that strategy, we’re toast,” Weiss said in late January.

Weiss was hired by Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison to shake up CBS News, whose ratings have long trailed broadcast peers ABC and NBC.

The former New York Times editor, who founded anti-establishment news site The Free Press, was a polarizing choice for the top spot.

Her decision to delay a story that criticized President Donald Trump’s deportation efforts, as Paramount tried to buy Warner Bros. Discovery, prompted backlash inside and outside CBS News. In response to a question from a staffer about political bias, Weiss said she’s not “a mouthpiece for anybody.”




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Read Bari Weiss’ new memo that defends pulling a ’60 Minutes’ segment and says Americans lack trust in the press

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  • CBS News chief Bari Weiss sent a memo to staff defending her decision to hold a “60 Minutes” piece.
  • Weiss made the decision to pull a segment on the CECOT prison shortly before it was due to air.
  • She said winning back public trust in the news sometimes means holding stories.

CBS News head Bari Weiss sent a Christmas memo to staff on Wednesday defending her decision to pull a “60 Minutes” segment on the Trump administration’s use of El Salvador’s notorious CECOT prison.

In the memo, signed by Weiss and other CBS News leadership, she wrote that the press needed to win back the public’s trust, and that “sometimes it means holding a piece about an important subject to make sure it is comprehensive and fair.”

“Right now, the majority of Americans say they do not trust the press,” she wrote. “It isn’t because they’re crazy.”

Weiss’ decision to hold the “60 Minutes” shortly before it aired led to blowback both inside and outside CBS News, which is owned by Paramount Skydance. Sharyn Alfonsi, who reported the segment, wrote in note to colleagues that the decision was a “political one,” multiple outlets reported.

Weiss said in her memo that she and other CBS News leaders are “not out to score points with one side of the political spectrum or to win followers on social media.”

The media world has heavily scrutinized Weiss’ management since she was installed atop CBS News by Paramount CEO David Ellison in October. Paramount also acquired The Free Press, the conservative-friendly news site Weiss founded after leaving The New York Times’ opinion section, for about $150 million.

Paramount is dueling with Netflix to buy Warner Bros. Discovery. President Donald Trump has said he would be involved in the regulatory review process.

Weiss added in the memo that CBS News would hold itself to a high standard of fairness and be independent.

Here’s the full text of the memo:

Hi all,
Right now, the majority of Americans say they do not trust the press. It isn’t because they’re crazy.
To win back their trust, we have to work hard. Sometimes that means doing more legwork. Sometimes it means telling unexpected stories. Sometimes it means training our attention on topics that have been overlooked or misconstrued. And sometimes it means holding a piece about an important subject to make sure it is comprehensive and fair.
In our upside-down moment, this may seem radical. Such editorial decisions can cause a firestorm, particularly on a slow news week. And the standards for fairness we are holding ourselves to, particularly on contentious subjects, will surely feel controversial to those used to doing things one way. But to fulfill our mission, it’s necessary.
No amount of outrage—whether from activist organizations or the White House—will derail us. We are not out to score points with one side of the political spectrum or to win followers on social media. We are out to inform the American public and to get the story right.
Restoring the integrity of the news is a difficult task. We can’t think of a more important one.
Merry Christmas—and thank you, especially, to everyone who is working over this holiday.
Yours,
Bari
Tom
Charles
Adam




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