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, multipleoutlets reported. Business Insider could not independently confirm the figure.
CBS Newsis 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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Longevity influencer Peter Attia has stepped down from his role as a CBS News contributor.
Attia’s name appears in the Epstein files over 1,700 times.
Attia also stepped down from his role at David Protein and is no longer listed as an Eight Sleep advisor.
Peter Attia, a popular longevity doctor with ties to Jeffrey Epstein, has stepped aside from his new role as a CBS News contributor, a person familiar with his decision confirmed to Business Insider.
The 52-year-old influencer, known for his podcasts and videos about living longer and his book “Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity,” was brought on by CBS News’ top editor, Bari Weiss, in late January, along with more than a dozen other new contributors.
Days later, the latest round of the Epstein files was released. Attia appears over 1,700 times in the files, which include crude emails he sent about women’s genitalia that he later called “embarrassing, tasteless, and indefensible.”
“The man I am today, roughly ten years later, would not write them and would not associate with Epstein at all,” Attia said of his emails with the disgraced financier and convicted sex criminal.
Attia has also stepped down from his role as chief science officer at the protein bar brand David Protein and is no longer listed as an advisor at Eight Sleep.
Other famous and powerful people, including former Prince Andrew, have also faced consequences after appearing in the Epstein files.
Stephen Colbert said CBS pulled a Democratic lawmaker’s interview from “The Late Show” over concerns about federal regulations. So, he posted it on YouTube instead.
The dispute marks the latest flash point in a growing tension between late-night hosts, broadcast networks, and the Federal Communications Commission.
James Talarico, a Democratic Texas state representative running for a highly competitive US Senate seat, was scheduled to appear on “The Late Show” on Monday night.
Colbert told viewers during his monologue that network lawyers intervened.
“He was supposed to be here,” Colbert said Monday night. “But we were told in no uncertain terms by our network’s lawyers, who called us directly, that we could not have him on the broadcast.”
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Colbert said he was also told not to acknowledge the decision on air.
“Then I was told, in some uncertain terms, that not only could I not have him on, I could not mention me not having him on,” he said. “And because my network clearly doesn’t want us to talk about this, let’s talk about this.”
CBS said in a statement that it did not prohibit “The Late Show” from broadcasting the interview. It said it gave the show legal guidance.
While CBS didn’t air the interview on TV, the show uploaded it overnight to its YouTube page.By midday Tuesday, the video had racked up more than 2 million views — significantly more than other recent guest interviews, which had largely drawn between about 75,000 and 510,000 views on YouTube.
The last guest to surpass 1 million views was Bad Bunny, who appeared on “The Late Show”ahead of his Super Bowl halftime performance.
A spotlight on the FCC’s ‘equal time’ rule
Jimmy Kimmel was briefly suspended after FCC chair Brendan Carr called out the comedian’s political jokes.
: Todd Owyoung/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images
Colbert said the network’s concerns stemmed from the FCC’s so-called “equal time” rule, which requires broadcast stations to provide equivalent opportunities to legally qualified political candidates.
“It’s the FCC’s most time-honored rule, right after ‘No nipples at the Super Bowl,'” Colbert said on Monday night’s television-aired monologue.
The rule applies to over-the-air television and radio broadcasters, but not to cable channels or online platforms — meaning CBS’s broadcast would fall under its purview, while YouTube would not.
He said most late-night talk shows — including his own — typically qualify for what’s known as the “bona fide news exemption.”
That carve-out is designed to give news and public affairs programs flexibility to respond to events without having to book opposing candidates for balance.
Colbert has hosted several Democratic and independent lawmakers this year, including Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger, and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
In recent months, the FCC has stepped up scrutiny of broadcast networks.
On January 21, the FCC’s Media Bureau published a letter that said it had “not been presented with any evidence” that any current late-night or daytime talk show qualifies for the “bona fide news exemption.”
Colbert said that the letter is part of what worried CBS’s lawyers.
CBS said in its statement that, “The show was provided legal guidance that the broadcast could trigger the FCC equal-time rule for two other candidates, including Rep. Jasmine Crockett, and presented options for how the equal time for other candidates could be fulfilled.” It said the show decided to publish the interview through its YouTube channel instead.
Last week, the FCC opened a probe into Disney-owned ABC after “The View” hosted Talarico.
In the YouTube interview, Talarico said the regulatory scrutiny was politically motivated.
“I think that Donald Trump is worried that we’re about to flip Texas,” Talarico told Colbert. “This is the party that ran against cancel culture, and now they’re trying to control what we watch, what we say, what we read.”
Talarico is locked in a competitive Democratic primary for the Senate seat against Rep. Jasmine Crockett. The winner is expected to face a Republican nominee that could include incumbent Sen. John Cornyn, former Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, or Rep. Wesley Hunt.
The open Senate seatis set to be decided during this year’s mid-term elections.
A broader strain between CBS and its staff
Monday’s standoff adds to an already complicated period for Colbert and his network.
In July, CBS said “The Late Show” would be canceled in May 2026, a move that was “purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night.”
It came after Colbert criticized CBS’s decision to settle a $16 million class-action lawsuit filed by President Donald Trump over its editing of a “60 Minutes” interview with his then-presidential opponent, Kamala Harris.
Some lawmakers raised concerns about CBS’s decision, questioning whether it was political.
CBS is owned by Paramount, which was acquired in August by David Ellison’s Skydance Media.
The network has faced other turbulence in recent months. Recently installed CBS News editor in chief Bari Weiss was criticized for her December decision to delay a “60 Minutes” segment on the Trump administration’s use of jails in El Salvador. And, on Monday night, Anderson Cooper said he would be leaving “60 Minutes” after 20 years on the show.
The FCC and representatives for Colbert did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.
CBS News employees put top editor Bari Weiss in the hot seat during an all-hands meeting on Tuesday, asking about her vision and standards for the nearly century-old broadcast network.
The first question in the Q&A part of her town hall asked how she would respond to criticism that CBS News is turning into “a right-wing network” under her leadership.
“I’m here to do one thing. It’s not to be a mouthpiece for anybody. It’s simply to be a mouthpiece for fairness and the pursuit of truth,” Weiss said at the all-hands meeting, according to a recording obtained by Business Insider.
Weiss, who became the editor in chief of CBS News in October after Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison bought her opinion site The Free Press, asked staffers to examine the coverage since her appointment.
“There’s a lot of noise out there, but I would just urge anyone who suggests that to look at our work and judge for yourself,” she said.
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Weiss was then asked how the network’s news-gathering standards had changed since she took over.
“I don’t think our standards have changed,” she said, adding that the network was “in very capable hands” regarding editorial standards.
Weiss said she ‘was not pressured’ to hold the ’60 Minutes’ segment
Weiss caused a stir in December for a late-hour decision to delay a “60 Minutes” segment about the Trump administration deporting migrants to the CECOT prison in El Salvador. Critics questioned her commitment to hard-hitting journalism and wondered whether Paramount leadership was influencing editorial decisions at CBS News — a notion that Weiss strongly denied on Tuesday.
“I want to just say this as plainly and clearly as possible. I was not pressured by David Ellison or anyone else,” Weiss said during the town hall. Weiss acknowledged that delaying the segment after commercials had already run for it was bad timing.
“I didn’t know the screening schedule for every single thing, that specific logistical nightmare,” she said. “That’s never going to happen again. So please rest assured that nothing of that kind is ever going to happen again. You have my promise.”
That said, she added that “asking for more information” and “trying to go back to a source” for a comment was an editorial policy she wanted to prioritize to build trust with audiences, as she explained in a December memo to employees.
“I felt it was important to do our best to try and get a voice from the administration, and I’m always going to be pushing for that,” Weiss said.
Weiss had little experience in traditional TV before joining CBS News. Instead, she became known in 2020 for her dramatic exit from The New York Times, during which she alleged anti-conservative bias. Her next move, starting The Free Press, turned out to be lucrative when Ellison bought it for $150 million in October.
‘Loving America is not about jingoism’
On Tuesday, Weiss was also asked about her core values, including what one of the new guiding principles for CBS Evening News — “We Love America” — means for journalists.
“Loving America is not about jingoism. It’s not about blind patriotism,” Weiss told employees. “It’s about vociferous defense of the principles and values that have made this country exceptional and that allow us to do the work that we do. And so anyone that disagrees with that, I’d love to have a conversation with you.”
When asked whether “CBS Mornings” would undergo another shake-up, Weiss noted that it had already undergone a major change, with longtime anchor Tony Dokoupil moving to the evening show.
“Speculation about Gayle King seems to be a favorite parlor game of a lot of newspapers and people in this building, and I just want everyone here to know that she’s absolutely beloved and see her long into the future here at CBS,” Weiss said.
A shift to a ‘streaming mentality’
In prepared remarks, Weiss said that CBS News needed to “shift to a streaming mentality immediately” and that if the broadcast network stuck mainly to its linear TV strategy, “we’re toast.”
When asked about staffing or potential layoffs at CBS News, Weiss said that she couldn’t make any promises amid a “tsunami of technological change.”
“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 said. She added that CBS News is “also hiring people to suit that.”
On Tuesday, CBS News announced 19 new contributors to the network, including writers and podcasters like Coleman Hughes and Derek Thompson.
Weiss said that if she didn’t believe digital revenue could eventually replace linear TV revenue, she “wouldn’t be standing here.” She said that linear TV wouldn’t go away, but that revenue would “decline sharply, as will the audience.”
“What winning looks like writ large for this company is building incredible journalism for audiences that are so much bigger than the one that we currently have and are maintaining on linear,” Weiss said. “That’s what winning looks like. It’s really simple.”
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