Inside Bari Weiss’s Hostile Takeover of CBS Information

On the finish of October, the community introduced a spherical of layoffs, the primary beneath its new possession. Eight on-air personalities had been let go, all of them girls. Debora Patta, who had been publicly accused by Mike Huckabee, the U.S. Ambassador to Israel, of improperly modifying an interview he’d given her, was laid off regardless of having not too long ago re-signed her contract. (Patta denied any improper modifying.) One other spherical of layoffs is predicted within the coming months.

In December, Weiss herself hosted an hour-long particular—a city corridor with Erika Kirk, the widow of Charlie Kirk. The viewers members who requested questions included the daddy of a girl who was murdered, final Could, in an antisemitic hate crime in Washington, D.C.; the Utah scholar who was asking Kirk a query when he was shot and killed; and a twenty-six-year-old lady who needed to know if courting in New York as a Christian was worthwhile. Scores for the particular had been poor. The community has since introduced that it might air extra city halls, with friends reminiscent of Vice-President J. D. Vance and OpenAI’s C.E.O., Sam Altman, however Weiss has no plans to host one other particular.

Dokoupil, in the meantime, had been promoted to anchor “CBS Night Information.” “On too many tales, the press has missed the story as a result of we’ve taken under consideration the angle of advocates and never the common American,” he stated in a promotional video for the present. “Or we put an excessive amount of weight within the evaluation of lecturers or élites and never sufficient on you.” In feedback on Instagram, he added that he can be “extra accountable and extra clear than Cronkite or anyone else of his period.”

4 days later, Dokoupil’s first official broadcast was marred by technical points. As he started to introduce a phase about Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota, footage from a narrative concerning the Arizona senator Mark Kelly began to roll onscreen. “First day,” Dokoupil stated. “First day, massive issues right here.” Weiss has been closely concerned in writing and modifying Dokoupil’s scripts. She and the manufacturing group had been making last-minute adjustments to the printed, resulting in the hiccup.

“CBS Night Information,” Weiss’s most seen experiment with type to this point, has not but proved to be extra profitable or journalistically sound than what got here earlier than. On January sixth, Dokoupil solely talked about the fifth anniversary of the riot on the Capitol very briefly, close to the tip of this system. “President Trump at this time accused Democrats of failing to stop the assault on the Capitol,” Dokoupil stated, “whereas Home Democratic chief Hakeem Jeffries accused the President of ‘whitewashing it.’ ” He closed the present with a lighthearted phase about Marco Rubio memes.

On “ABC World Information Tonight,” which has about twice as many viewers as “CBS Night Information,” David Muir devoted a complete phase to pro-Trump marches marking the anniversary in Washington and the White Home’s début of a web site celebrating Trump’s blanket pardons of rioters. Just a few nights later, on the Golden Globes, the comic Nikki Glaser mocked CBS in her monologue. “And the award for Most Modifying goes to CBS Information,” she stated. “Sure, CBS Information, America’s latest place to see B.S. information.” Ellison was seated within the viewers.

With Weiss’s assist, Dokoupil has booked interviews with highly effective figures in Trump’s orbit, together with Secretary of Protection Pete Hegseth and the Venezuelan opposition chief María Corina Machado. Final week, in Dearborn, Michigan, he did a twelve-minute standup with Trump on a Ford manufacturing unit ground. Dokoupil requested concerning the potential for U.S. intervention in Iran; the prison probe of Jerome Powell, the Federal Reserve chair; and the killing of Renee Nicole Good by an ICE agent in Minneapolis. (When Dokoupil talked about that Good’s father was a Trump supporter, the President stated, “And I feel that’s nice.”)

At one level, when the dialog turned to rising grocery costs, Trump informed Dokoupil that, if Kamala Harris had received the final election, “your boss”—referring to Ellison—“who’s an incredible man, may be bust.” Trump added, “You wouldn’t have this job, definitely regardless of the hell they’re paying you.” Dokoupil, whose spouse, the MS NOW anchor Katy Tur, has additionally been a goal of Trump’s jabs, pushed again on the shut of the interview. “For the document, I do suppose I’d have this job even when the opposite guys received,” Dokoupil stated.

“Yeah,” Trump shot again, “however at a lesser wage.” ♦