MAGA-curious CBS News boss Bari Weiss is reportedly set to lose control of the network’s most prestigious programs.
Weiss, 42, was installed at editor-in-chief at CBS last year by Skydance Media CEO David Ellison after he bought up her digital media outlet The Free Press for $150 million. A conservative with anti-woke views, she has been on an apparent mission to make the network more Trump-friendly.
Weiss personally recruited failing anchor Tony Dokoupil to front CBS Evening News as well as getting hands-on with the content of legendary news show 60 Minutes, including yanking one episode just hours before it was due to air, claiming it needed more input from the Trump administration.
But a new report claims that Weiss may be about to have her mandate changed as CBS’ owner Paramount moves closer to its $111 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery, including CNN.
Members of the senior leadership team at Paramount have started discussions about Weiss having less day-to-day control over 60 Minutes, Evening News and CBS Mornings, according to Puck, which reported that a more experienced executive would take over that role.
The publication said the more seasoned executive has yet to be named, but Weiss would shift her focus to building the digital growth of the news division while maintaining “broad editorial influence” over all the CBS platforms.
The report said Paramount’s leadership now realize Weiss was given “too broad a mandate” given her lack of experience in TV. They also cited the “ceaseless barrage of negative press” resulting from some of her decisions.
Sources inside CBS News and 60 Minutes also told Puck that Weiss is “drastically overstretched” and does not possess the experience to run the network.
Last year, Weiss oversaw the abrupt pulling of a 60 Minutes report that featured Venezuelan men deported by the Trump administration speaking on their treatment at a brutal megaprison in El Salvador. Weiss reportedly said the segment “needed more reporting.”
The network was embarrassed when the program leaked on air, then Weiss intervened in another 60 Minutes segment, fronted by long-time Anderson Cooper, which had the potential to infuriate Trump.
Cooper has since left 60 Minutes, with his final episode after 20 years at the show airing last weekend.
“I hope 60 Minutes remains 60 Minutes,” Cooper said in his sign-off from the long-running series. “There’s very few things that have been around for as long as 60 Minutes has and maintained the quality that it has.”
He added, “I think the independence of 60 Minutes has been critical.”
Weiss has also angered veteran 60 Minutes correspondent Lesley Stahl. She was said to be furious at how Weiss “upstaged” her by booking Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for an interview which she then gave to CBS News chief Washington correspondent Major Garrett to conduct, according to Status.
Stahl, 84, had for months been angling for the chance to question Netanyahu, Status reported earlier, and could leave the show when her contract expires at the end of this season.
60 Minutes correspondents and producers, according to Status, were also concerned by Weiss’ decision.
A CBS News spokesperson told The Post: “It’s the editor in chief’s job to make decisions about bookings and interviews. Major is a world-class journalist and did a tough, fair, and newsmaking interview.”
Dokoupil has also created negative headlines for Weiss and CBS. Last week, he failed to secure a broadcast visa to cover President Donald Trump’s state visit to China. While media rivals were following Trump in Beijing, he had to report on the summit from a hotel more than 1,000 miles away in the Taiwanese capital Taipei.
A Vanity Fair profile in April cited more than 20 current and former CBS staffers and industry insiders who questioned Dokoupil’s credentials and news sensibilities.
“He must have been [Weiss’] seventh or eighth choice, because nobody would take the f---ing job,” one CBS correspondent told the magazine of how Dokoupil became anchor.
“I mean, she wanted Bret Baier. She wanted Anderson Cooper. She wanted a name, and she does not see Tony Dokoupil as a name. A useful idiot for sure, but not a name.”
The Daily Beast has contacted CBS for comment.
