Blockbuster NYT Report Reveals Bari Weiss Stunned ’60 Minutes’ Staff By Asking Them ‘Why Does the Country Think You’re Biased?’
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As the media industry watches what Bari Weiss will do as editor in chief of CBS News, a blockbuster report from inside the network reveals Weiss has already rankled veterans at the network’s flagship news show.
According to a Sunday feature by Michael M. Grynbaum and Benjamin Mullin in The New York Times, Weiss put staffers at 60 Minutes on edge by asking: “Why does the country think you’re biased?”
“The inquiry was met with stunned awkwardness, according to three people who recounted details from the private session in Midtown Manhattan,” Grynbaum and Mullin wrote. “The staff of ’60 Minutes,’ the nation’s most-watched news program, view their coverage as firmly nonpartisan and reject criticism from President [Donald] Trump and his allies who argue that it has a liberal slant.”
Weiss has already rocked the boat quite a bit since taking the top job at CBS News on Oct. 6. Grynbaum and Mullin report that she has been “impressing some” top CBS news executives and talent, and “confounding others.”
She is also said to be displeased by leaks from inside her new shop. The Times report revealed Weiss has been “urging executives to identify the leakers in the newsroom.”
And Weiss has personally gotten involved with some high-profile bookings which — notably — involve right-leaning newsmakers.
“Ms. Weiss, an ardent supporter of Israel … helped book an interview with Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister,” Grynbaum and Mullin wrote. “She later worked with ’60 Minutes’ producers to land Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, the architects of President Trump’s Middle East peace plan, for this Sunday’s episode.”
Grynbaum and Mullin say there is optimism among some in the newsroom, along with the skepticism from others:
At her meeting with the staff of “60 Minutes,” Ms. Weiss asked about adding new contributors to the show’s on-air lineup, creating “60 Minutes”-branded live events and embracing digital platforms like YouTube, according to people familiar with her remarks.
“Some staff members are hopeful that Ms. Weiss will bring some needed energy and ideas to a news division that has struggled to adapt to the digital age,” they wrote. “Her interest in big interviews and bigger audiences has buoyed some CBS journalists, who think their network, which has cycled through five presidents in five years, needs a shake-up.”
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