Network staffers also told The Independent that Weiss would have a tough time gaining the respect of the newsroom because they see her as something of a “political operative,” adding that CBS News is already “not a welcoming place for outsiders.” “There are so many people who've come in here and been chewed up and spit out that the idea that somebody that we don't want is going to come in here and somehow manage to survive this is, I think, laughable,” the CBS reporter declared. “So she's in for, I would venture to guess, a rough ride.”
October 4, 2025
"People are using words like depressing and doomsday – feels like some sort of doomsday."
Said one reporter, quoted in "'It’s not a good place right now’: CBS News staffers are ‘literally freaking out’ about Bari Weiss taking over newsroom/'People are using words like depressing and doomsday – feels like some sort of doomsday,’ one source told The Independent about the mood inside CBS News right now" (The Independent).
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135 comments:
A round of layoffs will refocus everyone's mind.
Clean house and start fresh. Just skip over all the drama. Rip that band-aid right the hell off.
Yeah, one of the many norms Trump 47 has demolished is the idea that you depend on the people that have been there forever. No, you don't; they depend on you - for a paycheck. Trump has set the example for people to take over a place and clean house. Or maybe Musk did, during the interregnum. Then Trump 47 copied him. Now everyone else gets the idea. CC, JSM
I don't think they understand.
Bari isn't locked in there with them.
They are locked in there with her.
I’m bullish on Bari.
Steve Austin - yes, someone needs to do a Rorshach/Watchmen meme with her. CC, JSM
It's like a church full of gay-hating people who discover that the new priest supports gay marriage.
Is MSNBC hiring? Lying Liars who Lie - taking applications!
I note that part of the deal is that Bari reports directly to the ownership, Donald Ellison. At the NY Times she had no backing.
“Bari Weiss, a former New York Times opinion editor and founder of The Free Press, was one of the primary journalists tasked with reviewing and publishing the files. James Baker, Twitter’s deputy general counsel (and former FBI general counsel), became a central figure in the controversy due to his unexpected role in handling the documents. Below, I’ll break down the key elements, focusing on Weiss’s contributions and Baker’s involvement.“
https://grok.com/share/bGVnYWN5LWNvcHk%3D_815a407a-3a1c-4485-a32c-e31af5461106
LOL. None of these journalism majors at CBS news are talented. All can be replaced without any loss. And since Weiss isn't a passive "Why don't you like me?" conservative, she'll have zero hestitation in firing those who cross her.
Perhaps they'll sabotage CBS news by doing something different - being objective reporters.
--- "...the idea that somebody that we don't want is going to come in here and somehow manage to survive this is, I think, laughable,” the CBS reporter declared
Good one! Made me laugh. Something tells me that is a poor forecast of the future.
Bari has a whole stable of writers assembled at The Free Press that are coming in with her (as I understand it). Why does she have to gain "the respect of the [current] newsroom"? Just what leverage does "the newsroom" have in this situation?
I love it when employees claim their new boss will be powerless and they'll make life Hell for them, and do so anonymously. Because they don't want their name known. That screams "We are powerful - fear us".
There's a reason Ellison is buying another news room. That reason hasn't dawned on the former CBS newsroom at this time.
It's early.
The "news" industry has seen a lot of contraction recently. How difficult would it be for Bari to hire a bunch of new "journalists"?
Again, what leverage does "the newsroom" have in this situation?
So, if they're "freaking out" over the arrival of a left-of-center lesbian boss, may we infer that all-prog 24/7 was the default?
The idea that a center-left lesbian veteran of the WSJ and NYT will have a "rough time" in the CBS newsroom is, I think, laughable.
To succeed, Weiss will have to clean house. The anonymous people quoted here will have to be fired during week 1.
"Network staffers also told The Independent that Weiss would have a tough time gaining the respect of the newsroom because they see her as something of a “political operative,” "
Snort. I watched CBS news for a few days post Trump-Biden debate last summer. Their political bias was stunning. Do they not see themselves?
“the CBS reporter declared. ‘So she's in for, I would venture to guess, a rough ride.’”
About as sexist, bordering on misogynistic, as any one could be.
The quotes suggest corporeal straw men. I don’t think they up for the fight they suggest they want to give.
She's a liberal who has aborted her progression, an apostate to the grifters in her midst who were having a gay old time at a social distance.
Doomsday for liars and propagandists.Sure hate it for them!
Will CBS staffers try to give her grief and bullshit? Damned right! But she has the ear of the guy who signs their checks, and that counts for a lot more than the staffers imagine.
A Diversity (e.g. sexism) motive? Maybe, a spectrum disorder.
Weiss is a first-order forcing of [catastrophic] [anthropogenic] climate change. A carbon pollutant in a blue and polluted sky. Ironic. Karma-lic.
Bari Weiss as Ann Peebles:
You think you've got it all set up
You think you've got the perfect plan
To charm every girl you see
And play with everyone that you can
But I've got news for you
I hope it won't hit you too hard
One of these days, while you're at play
I'm gonna catch you off guard
I'm gonna tear your playhouse down
Pretty soon
I'm gonna tear your playhouse down
Room by room
Available on Substack records and tapes.
More proof, as if more was needed, that personality is the message. Main stream journalism is not "...give the news impartially, without fear or favor, regardless of party, sect, or interests involved." Journalism is agenda driven.
Yes if there's no mucking of the stables it will all go to heck...glorious heck. I'm rooting for them all to lose...
Imagine a "political operative" working in the newsroom at CBS! Perish the thought!
Their lack of self awareness is amazing.
She should gather them all into an auditorium and give them a rah-rah speech while scanning their faces with cameras.
I am just kidding, that would be evil... wouldn't it?
their habit of habitual lying has become engrained, as with many other publications, since rathergate, when he was eased out of the network, margaret brennan, and the other gal, who thought they could team up against jd vance, the post moonves era, just made it worse, (like Stalin's vanquished he never existed,
Lucy w/football, y'all. I don't understand the Bari attraction. As with every time, come the next election cycle when they need the propaganda coordinated amongst all the newsrooms is there evidence she won't be a good little doobie?
of course the independent is owned by an ex kgb oligarch so consider that part of the picture,
"Gosh, this is what the people who didn't toe the Democratic Party line must have felt like when we took over!"
But these people are the elect, and the people not on board with the progressive project are barely human!
she has shown some flashes of independence, like I spelled out earlier, joining with iconoclasts like taibbi and schellenberger,
For lefties, hell is having to work with someone who doesn't share all of their views. It would be a good thing if some of the most incompetent get fired. Then they'll be forced to do something honest for a living. Tough love.
As a veteran of the F500 world, this stuff just tells me that CBS is, organizationally, dysfunctional. No matter the ideology. The normal organization on this scale can handle leadership changes from the outside as a matter of course.
Sweet Jaysus… I hope - for their sakes - they never have to face real problems. They won’t be able to hold their mud.
the problem is what is their mission, is it to tell the Truth, that is so far below the priority list, at any of the big five, I include the Latin Stations, who are equally horrid,
Lemme put it in a Hitler analogy so it might make more sense- Hey, yah the big guy's gone but ya know Goebbels did those interesting think pieces so when he runs thing it will be totally different! Besides everyone recognizes the cool logo!
The crying...it's all confirmation of what's really going on there and it sure ain't journalism...
it really an endless sargasso sea of tripe and irrelevance one must navigate across, where criminals and terrorists have high status compared to law abiding citizens
You can focus on your job or focus on the politics. If they’re scared because a new boss is coming, then they are focused on politics.
Doesn’t this sound like Antifa on the streets of Portland?
”…the idea that somebody that we don't want is going to come in here and somehow manage to survive this is, I think, laughable,” the CBS reporter declared.
Roger Sweeney said, "It's like a church full of gay-hating people who discover that the new priest supports gay marriage." I think it exactly the opposite.
Dan Rather diapproves of CBS and Bari. Poor Dan.
'whats the frequency kenneth' even he doesn't know anymore,
If Dan Rather disapproves... LOL Well. Good.
That's a good thing.
Dan and Mapes built a fake memo. Democrats are lying lairs who lie.
as Thanos said of the collector when he said why would I lie,
'it must be like breezing for you'
CBS News - including radio news - can use a few coffee enemas and a thorough disinfecting. The bias is unrelenting, especially on what should be straight news stories.
there's not enough coffee in south america, and why would waste it this way,
I don't see how this works without bringing in new employees to replace the old almost across the board.
but as will drake notes in other venues 'its always the message' one side is perfect and goodness, and another is absolute evil
I enjoy reading Weiss. Her apparent center-left credentials are impeccable. The obvious conclusion is that the upset at CBS stems from left wing extremism, antisemitism or both. How is that news? Isn’t that why she was hired?
https://x.com/BleedingFool/status/1974193058175726031 another example, its a very tough path, look at the guy who tried to straighten out CNN they treated him like a leper,
CBS was one of the carriers of the lockdown madness that still has left scars on this country, specially school age youth
as well as the trans delusion, which has had bloody consequences,
It is so hard to find blondes who can read the news.
https://www.newsbusters.org/media-and-places/cbs this is just a recent roundup,
Yeah, these anonymous people are tougher than Bari. They'll stand up to her, just you wait and see. In fact, they'll eat her for breakfast. Why they know people at the NYT who got Bari fired, so how hard can it be?
She's a stinking Commie, and so are they. What's the issue?
“A political operative journalist? This is the CBS News Room - you can’t let her in here! She’ll see the big board!”
shes a lefty with some independent instincts, we can't have that
yes the strangelove reference,
and the other gal, who thought they could team up against jd vance
Bash?
If those anonymous people were as tough as they talk, they'd have started their own news business. (Extra points for starting a news business while also helping found a university.)
I can't say I agree with everything Bari Weiss says, but I do trust her more than most journalists to try to be fair on most things.
Time for Bari to kick tail, take names, and issue a few pink slips. That will calm the "mean girls" and "girly men" in the DBS newsroom right down. And maybe, just maybe, they may be able to do some objective journalism. I'm not holding my breath.
like inigo montoya I keep my cbs intake low, none of the news, if i can spare it, some of their labeled fiction,
some of the taylor sheridan offerings,
"Network staffers also told The Independent that Weiss would have a tough time gaining the respect of the newsroom"
Easy fix. Get a new staff.
look at the way she staffs the Free Press, you would think he had three heads, well like that twilight zone segment, they do think that,
My sources in the newsroom tell me everybody’s menstrual cycles have synchronized, even the males.
I hope Ms. Weiss hires Ms. Salena Zito to revitalize,”On the Road,” feature. Perhaps, with less adultery, though.
Bari doesn’t like Trump, doesn’t agree with Trump, doesn’t vote for Trump, but that’s not enough. The professionals in the newsroom require people they work with to hate Trump with the heat of a thousand suns.
"She's a stinking Commie, and so are they. What's the issue?"
Trotsky didn't smell real nice after eating all that Mexican food morning, noon, anf night.
the purge of the trotskyites really went bad, much like the gulenites in ergonokon 2, electric boogaloo,
some admitted to more crimes then they were even charged,
She's NYT Lite. She'll fit right in.
As JD Vance said to Ms. Brennan of CBS:
Well, I don't really care, Margaret.
How bad it would it be if CBS simply quit reporting the news for a while. Would anyone notice? Then they would have time to restaff.
their politics is holy writ, and anything outside of that is heresy, you see the paradigm
If you can’t get respect, the last resort is fear. News jobs are not easy to get.
I'm mildly hopeful if the US Treasury money dries up these institutions that have long deserved to close, consolidate, die begin to disappear and something constructive becomes of the fertilizer. As it is we're just bouncing the rubble...
Progress.
If anybody can turn CBS News around and make it a honest news organization, Bari can.
Being in charge is a whole different game than having an independent voice. I think the entrenched will try to do to her like the entrenched tried to do with Trump 45. Does she have the understanding and skills to navigate that? Does she have the authority to make wholesale change? Can she fire key staffers without complete chaos in the organization? To be fair, the anonymous staffer does have a point. It is not just a matter of taking a 6 person organization and firing the malcontents. There are hundreds of key people who might undermine her and she will have to pick and choose the battles, and leading something like this is not necessarily something she has trained for. It took Trump 2 tries and he still has troubles.
On top of all that, Weiss might be more independent, but don't all get too high an expectation that CBS will overnight become balanced and fair, and I think Weiss will disappoint the conservatives more than she will delight. It WILL be better, but it won't be anything like a conservative perspective.
Isn't it good to know that young journalists still understand how to define words? "Literally freaking out"...
What Bari really needs is some kind of ice-breaker to set the stage before she moves into her office. Something to clarify and help the staffers 'get their mind right', in the immortal words of the Captain. Hmm.... Let's see. How about a Substack article to her massive subscriber base, which puts forward the case of how Artificial Intelligence could potentially be the future of journalism ?
What will happen at CBS News has been determined by Ellison. Bari Weiss is the tool, she is the form of the Destructor. She will create the change needed to place the entity in its new condition.
We'll know pretty soon after she assumes her duties as editor.
Will the three or four most dishonest lies about Trump (Charlottesville, etc.) continue?
But again, you don’t keep a dog, and bark. She will lead and personality influence the process of change and it will be her hands that make the changes.
There's an amusing book from 2003 called "The DIfference Between God and Larry Ellison".
"Will the three or four most dishonest lies about Trump (Charlottesville, etc.) continue?"
Here's a litmus test. She could call reporters into her office and ask them if they could tell her what Trump said in Charlottesville.
Will she deem any contracts nonviable and abort employment? That would be ironic. Pethaps hire Grok or the Gemini twins to publish a decoded ensemble of liberal liturgy.
Speaking of Charlottesville, ICE agents were ambushed in Chicago by a mob of AntiUS. Deja vu. No news if any were sent to Planned Perphood (PP) for trial.
About 4 years into my business I had grown to 14 employees. We were in the early stages of what was a big job at the time when a spokesman for the group informed me that unless they got a 20% raise they would all quit. I guess they thought they had me by the short hairs because the job had a tight timeframe. I gathered them together to make sure they all agreed with what I had been told. It took about 5 seconds to form my answer. "Your final checks will be ready tomorrow morning." I was running again within a week. Several of them came back a week later looking to be rehired, but that was NOT going to happen.
If had been at sea they would have walked the plank. Do not cave to subordinates. No one is irreplaceable.
This reporter has no idea who Ms. Weis is, pretty sure he'll soon be introduced to the FO part! "There are so many people who've come in here and been chewed up and spit out that the idea that somebody that we don't want is going to come in here and somehow manage to survive this is, I think, laughable,” the CBS reporter declared. “So she's in for, I would venture to guess, a rough ride"
Your feelings bore me. They are yours. Keep them to yourself. I have my own, and I'm not asking you to feel them.
https://www.the-independent.com/author/justin-baragona this person knows nothing about anything,
bagoh20 said...
Middle Aged White woman does not like your tone.
Don't you tell MAWW to calm down.
Oh noes!
A "radically centrist" Jewish lesbian writer from the NYT is so scarey!
the fact the management has hired the likes of baragona doesn't make me sanguine about their prospects,
from the aforementioned basilisk
Have you noticed that almost every single Goddamn News story these days quotes anonymous somebodies. Give us the names or shut up. Or we'll assume you just made it up.
Even Peggy Noonan is doing this in her fucking opinion column. She's quoting "a retired General" who didn't like Mr. Pete, secretary of war. So why cant you name him Peggy? He's retired. Is it because he's General Millie Vanilli or some General who an outspoken Democrat? Or is it because Peggy just made it up?
they've been making stuff up for 50 some years going back to Watergate,
noonan who once upon a time worked for rather, long since lost the plot, like Katherine Parker, who really no one give a farthing about,
RCOCEAN II said...
Have you noticed that almost every single Goddamn News story these days quotes anonymous somebodies. Give us the names or shut up. Or we'll assume you just made it up.
Tracing the Use of the Anonymous Source.
I love the assumption that none of them need to gain Weiss' respect.
Maybe she needs help from some DOGE folks.
There's an amusing book from 2003 called "The DIfference Between God and Larry Ellison".
God has less money.
Consider that employees of CBS News are in a position to obtain maximum information about Ellison, Weiss, and the strategies packed into the moves that are putting a centrist in charge. And their comments seem clueless. It hasn't dawned upon them that their worldview is an anachronism. They can't see that the only hope that television news has is to regain trust by portraying the world accurately. Even then, it's still on life support.
"Dan Rather disapproves of CBS and Bari."
For being insufficiently unscrupulous, no doubt.
So, they dont know the meaning of Fascism, Liberal, democracy..........
Indoctrination will do that
GroupThink Bubble dwellers at CBS are worried. What if the bubble bursts, and they have to think independently. Can they?
There's an amusing book from 2003 called "The DIfference Between God and Larry Ellison
God doesn't think He's Larry Ellison.
Craig Mc said..."I love the assumption that none of them need to gain Weiss' respect."
They're not accustomed to judgement.
Weiss is a leftist. But since she is not 100% in agreement with the current narratives, she doesn’t meet the diversity standards of the newsroom.
Climate change, catastrophic, anthropogenic, liberal, progressive, abortive, twilight. Wicked.
Unless the newspaper you're working for is pushing a particular political agenda, why would you care about your new boss's personal politics?
So, the CBS news sources are showing that THEY are the political operatives.
Oh my, I am so enjoying this.
Personally, I think the CBS staffers are underestimating Weiss because she's a woman.
If we can embrace the Israeli destruction of Gaza City, surely we can take the next step and accept the armed occupation of our own cities. ~ Bari Weiss
Kak --- You're grabbing a truly unintelligible one sentence quote from Weiss to make a point. What's your point?
If I was her I would fire everyone and hire 100% people that never went to Journalism School. I would go with age 40+ engineers. They are smart and can write and have spent years having to live in the real world. Sifting BS is their job. Any smart person that had done blue collar work would also be a good choice.
It's the d-word dumps
dark dark daunting deathlike dejected dejecting deplorable depressed depressive desolate desolate desolating despairing despondent dim dim dingy dirgelike disappointing disastrous disconsolate discouraging disheartening dismal dispirited dispiriting distressing doleful dolorous down downcast downhearted drab drear dreary dull dusky
Sounds like a leak from 60 minutes. They ALL think they are the smartest people in any and every room. Like every modern Lefty when cornered with reality, they claim victimhood.
Bari Weiss, whom I have never deliberately read, is all about which orthodoxies she wishes to uphold, but ancient Greeks only classified religions and economic theories in heterodox terms. After leaving the New York Times, she unsurprisingly turned her Substack 'Free Press" website into an unshakable pro-Israel voice. I have never believed that CBS was against Israel, but it did dislike Bibi and his war.
Even before the Weiss appointment, CBS had turned pro-Trump to facilitate the Paramount-Skydance merger that David and Larry Ellison pulled off after paying a $16 million bribe to our President. Whether or not Weiss' Israeli bias is transferred to CBS is a matter for the Ellisons now that they have agreed to buy Weiss' business for $200 million.
But I'm progressive! Exactly, don't stop, don't look back, don't let the door hit you on the butt.
I always seek out biased, emotionally fragile people to garner my "news".
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