Paramount formally announced the onetime New York Times opinion writer turned Free Press founder Bari Weiss as its editor in chief on Monday. Staffers at the perennially third-place network and their allies in the mainstream media are not taking it well. The Washington Free Beacon has compiled the predictable reactions in “‘What the ——?’: CBS News Staffers Melt Down Over New Boss Bari Weiss.”
The Free Beacon quotes the reaction of one anonymous CBS News staffer: “We don’t know what the hell her job is going to be. Where does she fit in the hierarchy?” For that staffer’s benefit, the Free Beacon has produced the illustrated org chart below. At the top are David Ellison and Bari Weiss. It’s not Ms. Weiss’s job, but she has delivered a heaping dose of schadenfreude to the likes of us. Indeed, she may have delivered an overdose.
The distraught reaction of Salon “senior writer” Sophia Tesfaye is unintentionally funny: “From Dan Rather to — Bari Weiss? How far CBS News has fallen.” Ms. Tesfaye claims “over eight years of experience in the political journalism field.” She may not have been born in 2004.
Those of us who were around at the time are likely to have a different perspective on the hiring of Bari Weiss as CBS News editor in chief. Students of history “in the political journalism field” may recall Andrew Heyward’s blunt assessment of relevance. Heyward was president of CBS News at the time of Rathergate. He hasn’t spoken much about the scandal for public consumption, but he talked about the Rathergate film Truth to the New York Times in September 2015.
Heyward told the Times that the film “takes people responsible for the worst embarrassment in the history of CBS News” — that would be Dan Rather and Mary Mapes — “and what was at the time a grievous blow to the credibility of a proud news organization, and turns them into martyrs and heroes. Only Hollywood could come up with that.”
Ms. Weiss now arrives at CBS News to rescue it from continued embarrassment. Congratulations and best wishes are in order.
