The Washington Free Beacon reports on one legacy media outlet’s reaction to its newest high-profile employee.
Paramount formally announced the onetime New York Times opinion writer turned Free Press founder Bari Weiss as its editor in chief on Monday. Staffers at the perennially third-place network and their allies in the mainstream media are not taking it well.
Inside CBS News, employees did the courageous thing: They started anonymously leaking their incensed reactions to left-wing outlets like the Guardian and Mehdi Hasan’s Zeteo. Some encouraged Weiss not to “mess with the Golden Goose(s) of ’60 Minutes’ and ‘CBS News Sunday Morning,’” the network’s most prominent programs. As far as we understand it, that’s, like, her new job. Outside the network, a trio of Times columnists voiced their displeasure. Progressive news site Salon went so far as to cite former CBS anchor Dan Rather—who was unceremoniously fired in 2006 after he humiliated the network when he broadcast a false report on 60 Minutes II about George W. Bush’s military service records in an attempt to throw the 2004 election to John Kerry—as the type of heroic journalist who would oppose Weiss and her “political interference.” No, seriously.
Prominent CBS News hosts like Margaret Brennan and Gayle King have not publicly commented on Weiss’s hiring, though Brennan did share an Associated Press report on the move. Brennan, King, and the likes of Norah O’Donnell, Robert Costa, and Scott Pelley will ultimately report to Weiss, at least for now—new CBS chief David Ellison reportedly plans to “right-size” the network, which is losing around $50 million a year.
Here are some of our favorite reactions to Weiss’s arrival at the Tiffany network:
— “A throwing up emoji is not enough of a reflection of the feelings in here.” (Anonymous CBS staffer to the Guardian)
— “People are using words like depressing and doomsday – feels like some sort of doomsday.” (Anonymous reporter to the Independent)
