‘I Wanna Blow This Up’: How Bari Weiss Is Trying to Overhaul CBS News

The new editor in chief is personally recruiting potential anchors, booking guests herself and asking staff what they do

For a sense of Bari Weiss’s approach to leading CBS News in her first weeks on the job, consider a phrase the new editor in chief has used as a rallying cry in meetings with colleagues: “I wanna blow this up.”

Weiss, the former New York Times columnist turned anti-woke crusader, is working to overhaul the organization’s evening news program, counter what she sees as a left-leaning bias in legacy media and make the newsroom operate more efficiently.

She has been given a mandate for change by David Ellison, the new owner of CBS parent company Paramount, which bought her news and opinion platform the Free Press for $150 million.

At the time of her appointment, Ellison said he tapped Weiss to bring to CBS “news that reflects reality” and journalism that “doesn’t seek to demonize, but seeks to understand.”

Weiss is operating with Ellison’s full backing. His support gives Weiss the freedom to reshape the news division as she sees fit.