Seven months after being named editor-in-chief of CBS News, Barry Weiss is set to have a big summer as she overhauls the aging news department and plans significant changes to major shows like 60 minutes and CBS Morning.
But the Free Press’s plans may be affected by the next deal made by its president, David Ellison. If Ellison’s $111 billion deal to merge Paramount with Warner Bros. Discovery goes ahead (expected to close in September), it will combine two major news organizations in CBS News and CNN. This could lead to a change in the rules of the game that Weiss has spent this year preparing and starting to implement.
While Weiss laid out her vision for CBS at an all-hands meeting in January, aside from reworking the plan. CBS Evening News About Toni Dokoupil, and some of the adjustments to the broadcast lineup, many of the changes she made have yet to be implemented.
“Our strategy so far has been to cling to the audience that stays on broadcast television,” she told staff at the time. “If we stick to this strategy, we are happy with that.”
CBS News eliminated dozens of roles in March as part of this sweeping overhaul, and more changes are expected over the coming months.
“It’s no secret that the news industry is changing radically, and that we need to change with it,” Weiss and Tom Cebrowski wrote at the time. “New audiences are thriving in new places, and we’re moving forward with ambitious plans to grow and invest so we can be there for them. That means some parts of our newsroom will have to get smaller to make room for the things we must build to stay competitive.”
To that end, much of Weiss’s work has been developing a digital strategy that could help CBS escape linearity on a lifeboat, with a large number of contributors (many of whom are familiar to The Free Press readers), and other digital initiatives around podcasts taking particular center stage. But still, it’s its linear efforts that have garnered most of the attention, particularly Dokoupil’s slow start in the evenings (sources inside hope they’re seeing early signs of a turnaround), and the looming changes expected to come in the mornings and Sundays.
These changes are expected to begin over the course of the summer, when a long-awaited shake-up occurs 60 minutes probably. CBS staff expects Sharyn Alfonsi, and perhaps other reporters, to exit, as more names are expected to be added to the reporter mix.
“hope 60 minutes remains 60 minutessaid 60’s outgoing correspondent Anderson Cooper in an interview on CBS 60 minutes additional time. “There are very few things that have been around as long 60 minutes It has the quality that it has and it maintains it, and things can always evolve and change, and I think that’s great, and things should evolve and change, but I hope that the essence of what 60 minutes “It remains permanent.”
Then there CBS Morningwhich has been quietly auditioning a number of names to join the show hosted by Gayle King and Nate Burleson. After Dokoupil exited the show late last year, Vladimir Duthiers took a more active role, though others made guest appearances or did screen tests, such as former CBS and ABC anchor Josh Elliott.
The morning show is expected to get a more extensive overhaul later this summer, likely before the fall broadcast season begins, with new on-air talent and a revamped approach expected.
But the looming linear change comes as Paramount defends its tenure, which is only more than half a year old.
On Monday night, Bock reported, “Members of the senior leadership team have had informal discussions about changing Barry’s tenure at CBS News — and, ultimately, at CNN — in ways that would give her less control over the linear product. Paramount will look to hire an executive who can run that business.”
In a rare recorded response statement, a Paramount spokesperson said, “Barry has the full support of Paramount and David Ellison as supervising editorial leader of CBS News and… 60 minutes. “Reports to the contrary are inaccurate.”
In fact, Weiss and CBS News executives have been in talks with TV news experts who could join the company and help oversee some of its linear programming, sources say, though one of those people said they understood the role would report to Weiss, rather than over her. In other words, their purpose will be to help her achieve her vision, not to undermine it.
While Weiss has a vision for CBS News, there is no doubt that her relative inexperience running a large news organization is a factor, and if she is to be effective in her quest to reform CBS, delegating trusted deputies across linear and digital will be essential.
With the looming addition of CNN to Paramount’s portfolio, that news organization’s role in the combined company will become even more important. Paramount could close its deal sooner than people think (like within the next month or two) if it can win regulatory approval in Europe, the sources said, though antitrust litigation from countries could always throw a wrench into things.
Even if the deal goes through in the next few months, any kind of merger between CBS News and CNN would take additional time given the complexities involved.
In fact, CNN and CBS News held discussions decades ago about such a tie-up, although logistical concerns about merging the CBS newsroom and CNN’s non-union newsroom proved too big a hurdle to jump.
What role, if any, Weiss will play in a joint news operation is already top of mind for many at CNN, though executives in either news division have no idea what Ellison’s plans are yet. It’s entirely possible that leadership will keep Weiss at CBS, and hire someone new at CNN (or even keep CNN chief Mark Thompson).
“Despite all the speculation you’ve read throughout this process, I suggest you not jump to conclusions about the future until we know more,” Thompson told employees after the Paramount deal was announced. “And second, let us not forget our duty to our audience. We are still so close to the start of a year that is already incredibly newsy at home and abroad, a year that will culminate in crucial US midterm elections and who knows what else. Let us remain focused on delivering the best journalism possible to the millions of people who depend on us around the world.”
