Bari Weiss outlines 10 principles that will guide her leadership of CBS News
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The Free Press' Bari Weiss speaks at an event in Washington, D.C. Photo: Leigh Vogel/Getty Images for Uber, X and The Free Press
Bari Weiss, the new editor-in-chief of CBS News, outlined in a note to staff Monday 10 principles that will guide her leadership as the newly named editor-in-chief of the storied news network moving forward.
Why it matters: The memo, which followed CBS parent Paramount Skydance's announcement of its acquisition of her news site The Free Press, emphasizes clinical, non-partisan journalism, but CBS News staffers have expressed concerns about whether the network is being politicized.
Zoom in: Weiss told employees that the principles that will guide her leadership reflect the same core values that she's always used to guide her journalism. The 10 principles are:
- Journalism that reports on the world as it actually is.
- Journalism that is fair, fearless and factual.
- Journalism that respects our audience enough to tell the truth plainly — wherever it leads.
- Journalism that makes sense of a noisy, confusing world.
- Journalism that explains things clearly, without pretension or jargon.
- Journalism that holds both American political parties to equal scrutiny.
- Journalism that embraces a wide spectrum of views and voices so that the audience can contend with the best arguments on all sides of a debate.
- Journalism that rushes toward the most interesting and important stories, regardless of their unpopularity.
- Journalism that uses all of the tools of the digital era.
- Journalism that understands that the best way to serve America is to endeavor to present.
Zoom out: Weiss has long asserted that mainstream newsrooms have succumbed to left-wing tribe thinking.
- Before starting The Free Press, Weiss was a writer and editor at the New York Times. She left the Times in 2020, arguing she had become a victim of "a new McCarthyism that has taken root at the paper of record."
The big picture: The acquisition of The Free Press marks the latest in a string of moves by Paramount Skydance chair and CEO David Ellison to shift CBS News' coverage to the right.
- Last month, Kenneth R. Weinstein was appointed as CBS News' new ombudsman, reporting to Paramount president Jeff Shell. The appointment drew skepticism from journalists, who were quick to note Weinstein has donated to pro-Trump and conservative causes.
- CBS also said in September it would adjust its rules for editing interviews on its Sunday morning show "Face the Nation," shortly after facing criticism from the Trump administration over how it edited its Aug. 31 interview with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. (CBS News said the change was in response to audience feedback.)
- In July, Paramount agreed to pay $16 million to settle a voter interference lawsuit filed by President Trump last October, even as press freedom advocates warned the company was buckling to political pressure.
- Paramount has also faced questions around whether its new owners brokered a side deal with the president to air conservative public service announcements.
Go deeper: Paramount Skydance acquires The Free Press for $150M
