CBS News head Bari Weiss didn’t hold back in an internal town hall where she bared the truth about the company’s performance.
Brian Stelter posted “the written remarks by Bari Weiss at today’s CBS News town hall meeting” in three parts, which show how truly passionate she is about turning the outlet’s reputation around.
Look:
Here, in three posts, are the written remarks by Bari Weiss at today’s CBS News town hall meeting. Part one of three: pic.twitter.com/sLxfVeFkVW
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) January 27, 2026
Part two of three, with Bari Weiss announcing a CBS News masthead, promoting a new bench of contributors, and promising “to invest even more in revelatory journalism:” pic.twitter.com/2BPVcGugue
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) January 27, 2026
Part three of three, with Bari Weiss calling CBS News “the best capitalized media start-up in the world. We have the talent, energy, an mandate to transform CBS News…” pic.twitter.com/8MRKhZP4UU
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) January 27, 2026
She began by addressing the people who “might feel uncertain or skeptical about” her taking the leadership position, and what her overall goal is.
“I’m not going to stand up here today and ask you for your trust. I’m going to earn it, just like we have to do with our viewers,” she said, adding that she is “here to make CBS News fit for purpose in the 21st century.
“We have to start by looking honestly at ourselves,” she said later. “We are not producing a product that enough people want. We can blame demographics or technology or fractured attention spans or ‘news avoidance’ – but these are all copes.”
“The reality is twofold. First: Not enough people trust us. No you. Us. As in the mainstream media. We can debate why that is, but the numbers tell the story. According to a recent Gallup Poll, just 28% of people say we have their trust.”
“Second: We are not doing enough to meet audiences where they are. So they are leaving us,” she added. “They are not tuning out. Far from it. In fact, Americans spend twice as much time consuming news today as they did 50 years ago. They are going to the vast universe of podcasts and YouTube and Twitch and newsletters, and, yes, sometimes, to our nimbler competitors.”
The solution, Weiss believes, is to “focus first on what we are building, not on what we are maintaining.” She believes that CBS News has a leg up on the competition in its ability to “bring the talent, the resources, the rigor, the standards and the global reach to investigate and explain the biggest, most important stories.”
She also revealed that a number of people have come to her to say that they aren’t comfortable “raising their hands or pitching ideas that are out of step with the consensus.”
“That’s not the kind of newsroom I am interested in running,” Weiss said bluntly. “To cover America as it actually is, we in this building need to reflect more of the political friction that animates our national conversation.”
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
Sierra Marlee is a millennial whose hunger for the truth in a world of fake news has led her to write. Marlee also contributes to BizPac Review.
- Team USA figure skater using Winter Olympics platform to fight for ‘queer’ human rights under Trump - February 7, 2026
- Natasha Owens drops sizzlin’ hot anti-Springsteen anthem: ‘Thank God you’re not the boss’ - February 7, 2026
- Secret Service arrest OH man for threatening to KILL VP Vance — agents find child sexual abuse materials - February 7, 2026
Comment
We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.