Seeking: Business executive to help manage one of the nation’s best-known news brands. Must enjoy long hours, a fluid work schedule — and an editorial chief with predilection for generating controversy.
Paramount Skydance has been on the hunt for a business executive who can work with Bari Weiss, the editor in chief of CBS News, who is facing a restive staff and a hot public spotlight since ousting the senior leadership of “60 Minutes” in late May, along with three of its correspondents.
Four people familiar with some aspects of the discussions say they have been going on for weeks, and one of these people says Weiss has been involved with them. The new executive, if hired, would not likely enjoy any editorial or creative control greater than Weiss, two of these people say, which has been a turnoff for some people who have met for discussions.
Paramount and CBS News declined to make executives available for comment. Puck and Axios previously reported aspects of these talks.
Even with limits on its scope, the open job suggests executives at Paramount and CBS News recognize some of Weiss maneuvers since she joined the company in October have brought intense scrutiny to the news division and its parent, which is in the midst of seeking regulatory approval in the U.S. and overseas for an acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery.
Weiss, best known for her work as an opinion journalist and the launch of her site The Free Press, has stumbled in her new role in large part due to a lack of experience with TV operations. Some of her editorial moves have ripples that affect areas such as viewership, publicity and advertising, and while people who know her praise her intelligence, they acknowledge her dearth of experience in some of those areas has hurt her ability to move forward and to win over staff.
In late May, Weiss orchestrated a significant overhaul of “60 Minutes,” the most-watched news program in the nation. She ousted the program’s two most senior executive producers, Tanya Simon and Draggan Mihailovich, along with correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega, and two senior staffers, Guy Campanile and Matthew Polevoy. Within days, CBS News parted ways with Scott Pelley, the veteran “60” correspondent who has a dramatic verbal altercation with Nick Bilton, a technology journalist and documentarian who Weiss named to lead the newsmagazine for its 59th season.
