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Bari Weiss was expected to shake up CBS News. Instead, her first big move sticks to the script.

Poynter · Tom Jones · last updated

When new Paramount CEO David Ellison hired Bari Weiss to become CBS News’ editor-in-chief back in October, the plan — or so it seemed — was for the network to shake things up.

Weiss, who founded the independent news and opinion site The Free Press and wrote for The New York Times’ opinion section before that, had never worked in a television newsroom.

Instead of it being a detriment, her lack of experience was seen as a possible advantage. She was an outsider. She could be a bit of a rebel. She could come in with fresh news ideas to raise the metabolism of what she saw as a stuck-in-its-ways network news division.