MEDIA ‘WHAT THE F—?:’ CBS News Staffers Melt Down Over New Boss Bari Weiss.
Paramount formally announced the onetime New York Times opinion writer turned Free Press founder Bari Weiss as its editor in chief on Monday. Staffers at the perennially third-place network and their allies in the mainstream media are not taking it well.
Inside CBS News, employees did the courageous thing: They started anonymously leaking their incensed reactions to left-wing outlets like the Guardian and Mehdi Hasan’s Zeteo. Some encouraged Weiss not to “mess with the Golden Goose(s) of ’60 Minutes’ and ‘CBS News Sunday Morning,'” the network’s most prominent programs. As far as we understand it, that’s, like, her new job. Outside the network, a trio of Times columnists voiced their displeasure. Progressive news site Salon went so far as to cite former CBS anchor Dan Rather—who was unceremoniously fired in 2006 after he humiliated the network when he broadcast a false report on 60 Minutes II about George W. Bush’s military service records in an attempt to throw the 2004 election to John Kerry—as the type of heroic journalist who would oppose Weiss and her “political interference.” No, seriously.
Power Line’s Scott Johnson has further thoughts on “The New Regime at CBS News:”
The distraught reaction of Salon “senior writer” Sophia Tesfaye is unintentionally funny: “From Dan Rather to — Bari Weiss? How far CBS News has fallen.” Ms. Tesfaye claims “over eight years of experience in the political journalism field.” She may have been 9 in 2004.
Conan, what is best in life?
Related: Update to the swarmy New York Times profile of Weiss we linked to last night:
