CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss told employees in a Tuesday all-staff meeting that she plans to bring on about 18 paid commentators and hire reporters for new reporting outposts, while signaling that newsroom staff reductions are coming as the division tries to broaden its audience and rebuild trust.
CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss told employees in a Tuesday all-hands meeting that she is moving to add paid commentators and expand original reporting, while warning that staffing reductions are likely as she tries to remake the news division for a digital-first era.
According to prepared remarks shared by CBS with NPR and other outlets, Weiss said the network will hire 18 paid commentators spanning subjects including national security and health and wellness, as part of an effort to “widen the aperture of the stories we tell and the voices we listen to.” Among those cited in the remarks were H.R. McMaster, a former national security adviser in the first Trump administration; Reihan Salam, president of the conservative Manhattan Institute; and historian Niall Ferguson.
Weiss also said CBS is adding reporters who will produce original work from Kyiv, London and New York City, using what she described as a social media-first approach. In the remarks, she urged staff to prioritize growth over legacy routines, saying the newsroom must focus on “what we’re building, not what we’re maintaining,” and aim to reach “an audience exponentially bigger than the one we have now.” She said the network can combine enduring standards—“seeking the truth, serving the public, and ferociously guarding our independence”—with new distribution tools, arguing that “We can still do what the Wild West of social media cannot.”
Weiss did not outline specific layoff numbers in her remarks, but NPR’s David Folkenflik reported—citing multiple people with knowledge of her plans—that significant cuts are expected and that Weiss has told colleagues she wants only high-performing staff who are committed to her approach to remain. Folkenflik’s reporting described internal pushback tied to early moves affecting flagship programs including “60 Minutes” and the “CBS Evening News.”
Weiss’s leadership has drawn heightened scrutiny since Paramount, under David Ellison, moved to acquire Weiss’s media company The Free Press and named her editor-in-chief of CBS News. Paramount’s announcement said The Free Press would continue to operate as an independent brand even as Weiss took on her CBS role.
Tensions at the network intensified in late 2025 after CBS pulled a promoted “60 Minutes” segment about Venezuelans held in El Salvador’s CECOT prison, prompting public and internal complaints that the decision was political. Weiss disputed that characterization, and later coverage described the dispute as centering on whether the segment had sufficient on-the-record response from the Trump administration.
Outside CBS, Weiss has faced criticism from some liberal commentators who argue her approach could elevate voices aligned with President Donald Trump. Weiss has rejected that claim, according to NPR’s reporting.
The broader corporate backdrop has also become politically charged. In July 2025, Paramount agreed to pay $16 million to settle a lawsuit brought by Trump over the editing of a “60 Minutes” interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris; the company said the payment would be allocated to Trump’s future presidential library and the settlement would not include an apology.
Former CBS News president Andrew Heyward told NPR that polarization and managerial execution can fuel newsroom conflict, and that sustained investment in distinctive reporting is central to rebuilding audience trust.
