Bari in the Bunker and Ellison at the Gates

Over the last two weeks, as CBS News has found itself engulfed in unprecedented turmoil instigated by Bari Weiss’ radical overhaul of “60 Minutes,” the anti-“woke” news chief has largely been physically isolated from the rest of her staff. Rather than being visible around the newsroom, Status has learned, Weiss has mostly bunkered down in her suite on the sixth floor of CBS News’ Manhattan headquarters. There, she is surrounded only by her closest lieutenants, including deputies Adam Rubenstein and Charles Forelle. Notably absent from the suite is CBS News President Tom Cibrowski, whose office is located in another area of the building.

The suite, I’m told, is not accessible to the vast majority of CBS News personnel. In fact, it is physically locked to outside visitors, requiring special key card access to gain admittance.

The arrangement is highly unusual for a news chief and reminiscent of how ill-fated CNN boss Chris Licht had relocated his office from the newsroom floor to a separate upstairs corridor at the network’s headquarters before ultimately being ousted by Warner Bros. Discovery chief David Zaslav. At the very least, Weiss being holed up in her own off-limits wing of the network’s offices sends a distant message to staffers.