"The new owners brought in Bari Weiss to shake things up and change the direction of the news division toward a wider (read: younger) audience. And Bari Weiss brought in Nick Bilton, who has strong media chops in the documentary, investigative, and digital space. But Scott Pelley didn’t like Bilton’s pedigree (or his politics, apparently)."
The new owners (David and Larry Ellison - not mentioned once in this article) brought in Bari Weiss to make CBS palatable to an audience of one: Donald Trump. This is important to the Ellisons as they are attempting to build a consolidated media empire in a big way: Paramount wants to merge with Warner Bros. and acquire assets such as the entertainment division (the movie studio, DC Comics, and who knows what else) AND the cable properties (CNN, TNT, TBS, etc.).
It's also important to note that the Ellisons are the ones who received control of TikTok, when the US law explicitly shut it down.
It's also worth noting that the Ellisons are neck-deep in the current AI build out[1] and have SIGNIFICANT exposure to the ups and downs in how that plays out. It's important to the Ellisons that if the AI bubble pops tomorrow, that there's some form of gov't bailout to keep them from losing their entire empire (built on the foundation of the Oracle database software).
Appointing Bari "Dangerous Ideas" Weiss to run CBS has nothing to do with building new or larger audiences (CBS's ratings are in the toilet after the Colbert firing), but to play BS oligarch games to win and maintain an advantageous position with the current administration (including their attack dog in the FCC, Brendan Carr) to win contracts (such as the Stargate one) and protect their investments that have ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with the Columbia Broadcasting System.
Jonah Goldberg has a tendency to refuse to see the forest for the trees when it lets him reinforce his priors (rich elites pissing down on the proles), but you should really be reading Jonathan V. Last on this topic.[2]
There is no evidence of that other than the political stance of the beholder. Bari Weiss is not a MAGA princess. She’s not a Trump sycophant. And companies have lined up to curry favor with sitting presidents since 1803. If there is an argument it might be Weiss is not as far left as the network has been. But that in itself doesn’t mean CBS is turning into Newsmax.
Also, kudos for Pelley for standing up for his fellow 60 Minutes staff who had been fired the week before without any reason given. That's what kicked off this whole fiasco.[1]
Well, I don’t know how far left a network has to be to qualify as “ hard left” - (Maybe advocate for immediate private property confiscation?) You mentioned MSNOW, etc. NPR, not a television network I know, seems to be a blend of far left and far right, seeing its president said “ the truth gets in the way of important things we are trying to do.” And I don’t think it’s journalists ever met a conservative they did not slam or an Islamist they did not sympathise with. As for Roger Stone, he is OK in my book. After the FBI night swat team raid at his home (he had no previous arrests, no threats ever) and the months long prison term he received for refusing to lie to get himself off, he deserves a break. Plus he writes interesting articles. But Scott Pelly? Yuk! Goodbye Mr. Hypocrite Remember you must put your pants on one leg at a time Scott- just like the rest of us.
"The new owners brought in Bari Weiss to shake things up and change the direction of the news division toward a wider (read: younger) audience. And Bari Weiss brought in Nick Bilton, who has strong media chops in the documentary, investigative, and digital space. But Scott Pelley didn’t like Bilton’s pedigree (or his politics, apparently)."
The new owners (David and Larry Ellison - not mentioned once in this article) brought in Bari Weiss to make CBS palatable to an audience of one: Donald Trump. This is important to the Ellisons as they are attempting to build a consolidated media empire in a big way: Paramount wants to merge with Warner Bros. and acquire assets such as the entertainment division (the movie studio, DC Comics, and who knows what else) AND the cable properties (CNN, TNT, TBS, etc.).
It's also important to note that the Ellisons are the ones who received control of TikTok, when the US law explicitly shut it down.
It's also worth noting that the Ellisons are neck-deep in the current AI build out[1] and have SIGNIFICANT exposure to the ups and downs in how that plays out. It's important to the Ellisons that if the AI bubble pops tomorrow, that there's some form of gov't bailout to keep them from losing their entire empire (built on the foundation of the Oracle database software).
Appointing Bari "Dangerous Ideas" Weiss to run CBS has nothing to do with building new or larger audiences (CBS's ratings are in the toilet after the Colbert firing), but to play BS oligarch games to win and maintain an advantageous position with the current administration (including their attack dog in the FCC, Brendan Carr) to win contracts (such as the Stargate one) and protect their investments that have ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with the Columbia Broadcasting System.
Jonah Goldberg has a tendency to refuse to see the forest for the trees when it lets him reinforce his priors (rich elites pissing down on the proles), but you should really be reading Jonathan V. Last on this topic.[2]
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stargate_LLC
[2] https://www.thebulwark.com/p/the-murder-of-60-minutes
There is no evidence of that other than the political stance of the beholder. Bari Weiss is not a MAGA princess. She’s not a Trump sycophant. And companies have lined up to curry favor with sitting presidents since 1803. If there is an argument it might be Weiss is not as far left as the network has been. But that in itself doesn’t mean CBS is turning into Newsmax.
Also, kudos for Pelley for standing up for his fellow 60 Minutes staff who had been fired the week before without any reason given. That's what kicked off this whole fiasco.[1]
[1] https://www.poynter.org/commentary/2026/scott-pelley-60-minutes-cbs-meeting/
Well, I don’t know how far left a network has to be to qualify as “ hard left” - (Maybe advocate for immediate private property confiscation?) You mentioned MSNOW, etc. NPR, not a television network I know, seems to be a blend of far left and far right, seeing its president said “ the truth gets in the way of important things we are trying to do.” And I don’t think it’s journalists ever met a conservative they did not slam or an Islamist they did not sympathise with. As for Roger Stone, he is OK in my book. After the FBI night swat team raid at his home (he had no previous arrests, no threats ever) and the months long prison term he received for refusing to lie to get himself off, he deserves a break. Plus he writes interesting articles. But Scott Pelly? Yuk! Goodbye Mr. Hypocrite Remember you must put your pants on one leg at a time Scott- just like the rest of us.
Covers the bits few others have covered (Except maybe Shellenberger).