CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss is stuck in a tug-of-war with the network’s president, Tom Cibrowski, that reportedly could plunge the operation into even greater chaos.
The power struggle has reached a point where staffers are speculating that either Weiss or Cibrowski will be forced out if the network’s ratings keep struggling, the New York Post reports.
“It’s a Cold War,” one prominent network staffer told the outlet. “We just want one side to win so we can do our jobs.”
Weiss, 42, who was installed as CBS News’ editor-in-chief by Trump pal and Paramount CEO David Ellison nearly a year ago, has been running the newsroom alongside Cibrowski, 58, who was already serving as the network’s president and executive editor when Ellison took over.
But the two have been pulling CBS News in different directions, sources told the Post.
Weiss, who arrived as an anti-woke opinion writer with no television experience and has been accused of steering the network in a Donald Trump-friendly direction, wants to lean into hard news and enterprise reporting, sources told the Post. Cibrowski, an ABC News veteran who produced Good Morning America and World News Tonight for years, favors softer, more varied coverage.
One CBS source told the Post that CBS News employees feel “caught in the middle” of “two feuding parents” pulling the network in different editorial directions.
Staffers have been left in limbo, unsure what to do amid the daily confusion caused by Weiss and Cibrowski’s dysfunction, sources told the Post.
There may be no open warfare between Weiss and Cibrowski yet, but sources told the Post that their uneasy coexistence may not survive the fall, with both camps waiting for the other to be shown the door.
Who that will be will likely depend on the ratings of the shows they oversee.
Weiss will have to deliver strong ratings at 60 Minutes, which she subjected to a controversial overhaul last year by firing veteran correspondents Scott Pelley, Sharyn Alfonsi, Cecilia Vega, and other senior staffers.
Cibrowski, meanwhile, is under pressure to reverse the ratings slide of the two shows under his watch: CBS Mornings and CBS Evening News. Earlier this month, he shook things up at CBS Mornings, tapping Norah O’Donnell to join Gayle King and Nate Burleson as a full-time co-host.
“It all comes down to the ratings,” a second CBS source told the Post. “Who’s going to get fired first, Bari for 60 or Tom for CBS Mornings and CBS Evening News?”
The conflict is unfolding within a divided chain of command. Weiss, who has sought to move CBS’s coverage in a rightward direction, oversees the network’s editorial operations and reports directly to Ellison. Cibrowski runs TV operations and answers to CBS president/CEO George Cheeks, who reports to Ellison, according to the Post.
The unusual leadership structure has also left Weiss with limited ability to enforce her agenda, including orders to cover stories like Dr. Anthony Fauci’s grilling before Republicans in Congress and Europe’s lack of air conditioning amid this summer’s deadly heatwave.
A CBS spokesperson told the Post that reports that Weiss and Cibrowski have issues are “baseless gossip,” claiming that “none of it is true.”
“CBS News is firing on all cylinders and working more collaboratively than ever,” the spokesperson said. “We’re very excited about season 59 of 60 Minutes.”
CBS did not immediately respond to the Daily Beast’s request for comment.
