'We need to be the news'
“Let’s make sure every single night has something with viral potential,” Bari Weiss wrote to top producers as they prepared to relaunch the “CBS Evening News” with Tony Dokoupil, according to a new account in The New York Times.
Weiss also wrote, of Dokoupil’s planned cross-country tour, “The goal for this road show is not to deliver the news so much as it is to *drive the news*. We need to *be the news* for these 10 days.”
The next paragraph of the NYT story is predictable: “Weiss has achieved that goal — perhaps not in the way she hoped.”
It was always about attention, and understandably so, since CBS has been mired in third place at 6:30 p.m. seemingly forever. (Final ratings for Dokoupil’s first week will land later today.)
I basically share Katie Rogers’ assessment of the situation: “This is actually a fascinating experiment,” she wrote on X over the weekend, linking to a Post story about the newscast’s “new tone.”
But here’s the thing that bears repeating: In the Trump era it’s incredibly tricky to appeal to a new audience without alienating your existing audience. But if your existing audience is evaporating year after year, well…
An ongoing culture clash
“Part of the debate inside CBS News is whether Ms. Weiss’s early stumbles are a symptom of partisanship, inexperience or something else,” Michael Grynbaum and Ben Mullin wrote. “She had never managed an organization nearly as large as CBS News, and she often relies on a small circle of lieutenants, some of whom she brought with her from The Free Press.”
Indeed, the culture clash aspect of this story is underappreciated. The griping and leaking is breeding distrust. Publicly, Weiss isn’t talking about her ongoing overhaul of CBS. Privately, she is “deeply frustrated by the negative reaction to her decisions, and has blamed some subordinates for not stanching the criticism,” the NYT reported, citing sources.
>> For what it’s worth, I watched Monday’s “Evening News,” and other than the fact that Dokoupil was in Denver, it seemed like a perfectly normal network newscast. It didn’t have much “viral potential,” and maybe that’s OK.
>> Elsewhere at CBS News, there are looming questions: Will Sharyn Alfonsi’s “Inside CECOT” segment air on “60 Minutes” this weekend? Will Gayle King remain on the morning show after her contract expires in May? Will the news division introduce a subscription product?
>> Trump is expected to meet with his national security team to discuss options in Iran later today. His pledge to “rescue” Iranian protesters highlights his “selective view of the sanctity of protests,” Aaron Blake writes. (CNN) >> In Minnesota, the FBI inquiry into the killing of Renee Nicole Good is “looking into her possible connections to activist groups,” raising the specter “that forms of political protest traditionally protected by the First Amendment could be criminalized.” (NYT) >> Stepping back: The “first days of 2026 have been breathtaking in their share of Wait, he did what? headlines, cable chyrons, and news alerts,” Jonathan Lemire says in this piece about Trump acting on “pure id.” (The Atlantic gift link) >> Jon Stewart last night: It feels like America is on the “Donald Trump gravitron,” and “we don’t know what up or down is. We just know it feels like we are all going to vomit.” |
Smart, urgent use of Substack |
When all three living former Fed chairs and five former Treasury secretaries came together in a hurry to issue a statement defending Jerome Powell, where did they publish? On a hastily-created Substack account, jointstatement.substack.com. Honestly, a smart move. The eminent figures said the reported inquiry into Powell is “an unprecedented attempt to use prosecutorial attacks to undermine” the Fed… |
YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST… |
Whipple on Wiles: Vanity Fair’s top subscriber-driving story |
Liam Reilly writes: Chris Whipple’s bombshell insiders’ account about White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles is officially Vanity Fair’s top subscriber-driving story ever, a rep tells Reliable Sources. The piece will appear in print in VF’s winter issue, on newsstands next Tuesday… |
Today’s new nonfiction releases |
Belle Burden, who wrote a sensational “Modern Love” column for the NYT in 2023 about the end of her marriage, is out today with a book-length version titled “Strangers.” Also out today and already ranking high on Amazon’s sales chart: “Enough: Your Health, Your Weight, and What It’s Like To Be Free,” from Ania M. Jastreboff and Oprah Winfrey; “The Other Side of Change: Who We Become When Life Makes Other Plans” by Maya Shankar; and the brilliantly titled “99 Ways to Die: And How to Avoid Them,” by Ashely Alker, an emergency medicine doctor… |
Political pressure smothering the Smithsonian is back in the news this week. As you may recall, the White House said last month that the museum complex wasn’t being fully responsive to its (invasive!) requests for info about its exhibitions and internal governance. “The overwhelming majority of requested items remain outstanding,” the WH letter stated. The letter came with a new deadline: Today. The NYT’s story puts it this way: The Smithsonian “faces a new ultimatum to hand over all of the requested materials by Tuesday or risk potential cuts to its $1 billion budget.” >> View from the left: “Trump’s censorship machine is cracking down on the Smithsonian,” Zeeshan Aleem writes for MS NOW. >> View from the right: “Trump’s reforms are essential,” Mike Gonzalez writes for UnHerd. |
BBC moves to dismiss Trump suit |
“The BBC is taking steps to have Donald Trump’s defamation lawsuit against it dismissed,” Lianne Kolirin reports for CNN. In a court filing yesterday, the BBC asserted that the case doesn’t belong in a Florida court, “noting that the documentary in question was not made or produced and did not air in Florida.” The BBC also argued that Trump “failed to plead… that the program caused him any cognizable injury.” More here… |
As Iran continues to block internet connections… |
“The Trump administration is under pressure to step up its efforts to support internet freedom in Iran after it cut funding backing that work last year,” CNN’s Kylie Atwood and Jennifer Hansler report. Some of that funding flowed through the US Agency for Global Media, which has been gutted by Trump and Kari Lake over the objections of many inside and outside the agency. Lake has claimed that USAGM is still achieving its goals. She talked to Fox News last week for a fluffy story about the agency’s messaging into Venezuela and Iran. At Voice of America’s Persian-language service, “we’re hiring contractors to up our coverage and add more additional hours to coverage,” Lake said. But Lake remains at loggerheads with the broadcasters that the US proudly supported until last year. According to a report last night in Status, Lake “has blocked Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty from using a USAGM transmitter in Kuwait to broadcast news and protest updates into Iran.” It’s unclear why. As a Reliable reader pointed out to me this morning, “RFE’s Farsi Service, Radio Farda, is a vital source of information for Iranians and the world.” |
Inside NYT’s Venezuela ‘hold’ |
After the US operation in Venezuela, Semafor reported that the NYT and the Washington Post “learned of” the raid “soon before it was scheduled to begin … but held off publishing what they knew to avoid endangering US troops.” Marco Rubio tacitly confirmed this when he thanked media outlets that “held it.” But NYT editor Joe Kahn framed the matter differently in his latest Q&A with readers. “Contrary to some claims,” Kahn said, “The Times did not have verified details about the pending operation to capture Maduro or a story prepared, nor did we withhold publication at the request of the Trump administration.” Kahn added, “While not relevant in this case, The Times does consult with the military when there are concerns that exposure of specific operational information could risk the lives of American troops…” |
WBD brushes off Paramount’s lawsuit |
We led yesterday morning’s letter with Paramount’s lawsuit and proxy fight threat. In the afternoon Warner Bros. Discovery responded with a statement that dismissed Paramount’s PR campaign. “Despite six weeks and just as many press releases from Paramount Skydance, it has yet to raise the price or address the numerous and obvious deficiencies of its offer,” WBD said. “Instead, Paramount Skydance is seeking to distract with a meritless lawsuit and attacks on a board that has delivered an unprecedented amount of shareholder value.” Full story here… |
>> Speaking of WBD, HBO Max is launching today in Italy “with several Italian originals to follow soon.” (Variety) >> New this morning: “Fanatics is formally diving into the content production business.” (SBJ) >> Hollywood heavyweight Penske Media is suing Google, “accusing the tech giant of illegally monopolizing the digital advertising market and depriving publishers of billions of dollars in revenue,” Josh Dickey reports. (TheWrap) >> Sally Shin is returning to CNBC in a new role, EVP of growth and partnerships. (CNBC) |
Elon’s ‘debasement-of-women machine’ |
Alona Ferber renames Grok “Elon Musk’s debasement-of-women machine” in this powerful column for Prospect. ”This has been, first and foremost, an object lesson in the inadequacy of government responses to the mess and chaos of tech — to its excesses and questionable ethics,” Ferber writes. “As thousands were still being victimized, regulators were notified and governments issued aghast statements. And yet the chatbot was still available to be abused in this way.” It was only on Saturday “that Indonesia became the first country to block access to Grok.” It’s also telling, though not surprising, that US officials have been mostly quiet about the matter, while leaders in other countries have condemned Grok. Witness this AP headline: “Pentagon is embracing Musk’s Grok AI chatbot as it draws global outcry.” |
Apple goes with Google’s Gemini AI |
Alphabet is officially “the fourth member of the $4 trillion club,” CNBC’s Jennifer Elias writes, a market milestone that followed Apple’s announcement that it will power Siri using Google’s Gemini AI model. It’s a “major win for Google in the ongoing Silicon Valley battle to create the most capable and widely used AI model,” CNN’s Clare Duffy wrote here… |
More of today’s tech talk |
>> Wrap your head around these #’s from Apple: Last year the company “had 850 million average weekly App Store users (up from 813 million in 2024), over $100 billion in Apple Pay merchant sales, and a 36% increase in monthly Apple TV engagement.” (TechCrunch) >> OpenAI “is expected to air a Super Bowl ad for the second straight year.” (WSJ) >> Yesterday on TBPN, Ben Thompson went on a great rant about why OpenAI should have introduced ads within ChatGPT years ago. (X) |
>> A new report from Ampere Analysis shows that “streamer spend on content is set to top the $100 billion mark for the first time this year.” (Deadline) >> Oscar nomination voting is underway for the next four days. (Variety) >> George R. R. Martin is hinting at more “Game of Thrones” sequels to come. (THR) >> Taylor Swift’s “The Fate of Ophelia” is atop the Billboard Hot 100 “for a 10th week,” setting a new record for Swift. (Billboard) |