DESPERATE MEASURES

MAGA-Curious CBS Boss Plotting to Make MAHA Podcaster New Network Star

Bari Weiss is hoping to give the network a shot in the arm with a slate of new hires.

CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss is planning to bring popular science and health podcaster Andrew Huberman on board to help revive the struggling network.

Weiss will announce a host of new contributors to the now Donald Trump–friendly network during an all-hands meeting with staff on Tuesday morning, Axios reported.

This includes Huberman, a Stanford neurobiology professor whose podcast has more than 7.3 million subscribers on YouTube. He has built a massive following of Joe Rogan–esque “wellness bros” by pushing various tips and advice, such as high-protein consumption and maintaining elevated cortisol levels in the mornings.

His huge, testosterone-charged fanbase has even coined the term “Huberman Husbands” to describe men who subject their wives to diet and fitness regimes they discovered on the Huberman Lab podcast.

However, as Axios notes, Huberman has also been heavily criticized for misrepresenting or oversimplifying complex scientific research.

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In 2024, an expert criticized Huberman for failing to push back during an interview in which a pediatric endocrinologist falsely claimed that ultra-processed foods inhibit bone growth, and that this had been proven in human studies. The 2021 study cited had in fact been conducted on rodents.

Huberman has also told his millions of listeners that he never takes a flu shot, without directly advising them not to get one themselves.

“I was floored with how many different types of misinformation he was able to shove into a single episode,” microbiologist Andrea Love told Vox.

Huberman’s move to CBS News will see him join longtime CBS contributor Dr. Mark Hyman, a close friend of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and an advocate of the MAHA movement.

Other names Weiss is reportedly naming as new CBS contributors include conservative historian Niall Ferguson, New York chef Clare de Boer, and youth culture journalist Casey Lewis.

Weiss is hoping to use Tuesday’s all-staff call to outline her plans and priorities for CBS News following its disastrous first few months under her tenure.

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This includes her decision to pull a 60 Minutes segment that was highly critical of Trump’s hardline deportation policy just before it was due to air in December, citing a need for additional reporting, including on-air interviews with administration officials.

The “Inside CECOT” segment about the notorious El Salvador prison eventually aired on Jan. 19, without any new interviews.

There was also a flop interview with Erika Kirk, the widow of MAGA commentator Charlie Kirk, which had been heavily promoted by the network for days.

On top of that, Weiss has been criticized for her attempt to make MAGA-coded anchor Tony Dokoupil the new star of the network’s flagship evening show.

Dokoupil’s brief tenure as CBS Evening News anchor has been plagued by technical difficulties, sucking up to Trump officials, crying on air, and delivering multiple cringeworthy sign-offs to a dwindling audience.

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More than 4.4 million total viewers tuned in for Dokoupil’s error-filled debut, before viewership slid more than 11 percent to 3.9 million by the following Thursday, according to Nielsen’s preliminary measurements.

The viewings for Dokoupil’s second week were also down about 20 percent compared to last year, when Norah O’Donnell anchored the evening show.

The Daily Beast has contacted CBS News for comment.

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