CBS News’ editor-in-chief Bari Weiss is plotting to revamp the network’s editorial rulebook as backlash over her decision to shelve a 60 Minutes segment continues.
Weiss, 41, is planning a broad overhaul of the network’s standards and procedures, Axios reported, citing a source familiar with her plans.
She reportedly wants to create a masthead that streamlines hierarchy and standardizes processes across the network to give senior editors greater visibility into sensitive stories.
Weiss’s reported overhaul comes amid outrage over her eleventh‑hour call on Sunday to shelve a 60 Minutes report on the El Salvador megaprison where Venezuelan men deported by President Donald Trump were held.
Sharyn Alfonsi, the correspondent on the story, called Weiss’s decision “political” in an internal memo, while other 60 Minutes staff have voiced frustration over the last-minute move; the segment had reportedly been screened five times and cleared by both CBS attorneys and the Standards and Practices department.
Weiss screened the segment for the first time last Thursday and it was moved forward, sources told CNN. But on Saturday, the day before the segment was set to air, Weiss reportedly messaged 60 Minutes executive producer Tanya Simon with a list of concerns.
“It’s not a part-time job,” longtime correspondent Scott Pelley said at a 60 Minutes staff meeting on Monday, blasting Weiss for missing screenings of the segment, according to The New York Times’ Michael M. Grynbaum.
Simon reportedly said in a Monday call with colleagues, “In the end, our editor-in-chief had a different vision for how the piece should be, and it came late in the process, and we were not in a position to address the notes.”
Weiss, whom Trump-friendly Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison appointed as CBS News’ editor-in-chief in October, told 60 Minutes staff that she pulled the segment because it required more reporting, urging them to get Trump administration officials on the record.
The anti-woke opinion journalist told staffers at a Monday morning editorial call that the piece “wasn’t ready,” saying, “The story presented very powerful testimony of abuse at CECOT, but that story has already been reported on by places like The Times.”
She added, “The public already knows Venezuelans have been subjected to horrific treatment in this prison.”
In an apparent rebuke of Alfonsi’s memo, Weiss said, according to CNN, “The only newsroom I’m interested in running is one in which we are able to have contentious disagreements about the thorniest editorial matters with respect, and, crucially, where we assume the best intent of our colleagues. Anything else is absolutely unacceptable.”
In her memo, Alfonsi said that she had asked Weiss for a call to discuss her decision to “spike” the story, but that Weiss “did not afford us that courtesy/opportunity.” She also said she sent requests for comment to Homeland Security, the White House, and the State Department, but they went unanswered.
However, a source told Axios that the Trump administration did provide comments to CBS News. The segment, which was accidentally aired by a Canadian broadcaster, did not include any of those statements.
The Daily Beast has reached out to CBS for comment.
