MAGA-coded CBS boss Bari Weiss has floated deeply unpopular changes to 60 Minutes, the network’s number one show, according to insiders.
Weiss, 42, the network’s anti-woke editor-in-chief, is desperate to put her mark on the news magazine show that has been running since September 1968, more than 15 years before she was born.
On March 31, CBS bragged in a social media post that it was TV’s “#1 primetime broadcast for the week, delivering 10.3 million viewers.” This week, CBS News was nominated for 16 News & Documentary Emmy Awards. This impressive spread includes 10 nods for 60 Minutes.
Still, Weiss is determined to put her stamp on the show, according to the media news site Status. She is reportedly gunning for its long-standing format of three stories per episode, each around 13 minutes long. Weiss is said to want to experiment with pieces of varying length.
To staffers’ dismay, she has even reportedly privately toyed with airing pieces from her conservative opinion outlet, The Free Press. This idea has “raised eyebrows,” according to Status.
However, Weiss might have been spit-balling when she suggested this, according to Oliver Darcy of Status. A person familiar with CBS leadership’s thinking told Darcy that, rather than serializing The Free Press, Weiss “could simply look to stories” from it for inspiration.
Some staff think she should keep her hands off a show that is already popular and frequently acclaimed. “Seriously, go focus on the Evening News,” one employee told Status. “Your changes haven’t exactly landed with viewers. If that becomes a success, I’d be a lot more open to your ideas about changing the longest-running, most successful, most-watched news program in history.”
Status also reported that Weiss could be considering replacing the popular executive producer Tanya Simon. This, too, could spark uproar among 60 Minutes employees, several insiders warned.
“It would be an earthquake-like event,” one CBS News staffer said. “If Tanya goes, you can expect others to leave,” warned another person familiar with events.
Simon, whom Weiss has reportedly warmed to, has continued to deliver despite the uncertainty around 60 Minutes.
“Anyone familiar with the dynamics at 60 Minutes knows that putting on a weekly investigative news program that consistently makes money, finds an audience, and breaks meaningful news is very difficult—add on an unsupportive corporate overlord and near-constant leaks about your demise, and it’s near impossible,” a person close to the show told Status.
The person added, “What Tanya and team are able to pull together each week, not just as journalists, but as leaders of a team, is truly remarkable. It’s why she has the loyalty of her team. And contrary to what we’ve read elsewhere, I think Bari and [CBS News President] Tom [Cibrowski] know that.”
CBS has been approached for comment.
