CBS boss Bari Weiss and network’s president – Business News
CBS News’ viewership is at an all-time low as editor in chief Bari Weiss’ and the community’s president Tom Cibrowski have displayed jarringly completely different visions for how to revamp the struggling outlet — main some staffers to tag the mismatched duo “the odd couple,” The Post has realized.
Weiss, the 42-year-old co-founder of scrappy information web site The Free Press, took the helm in October with a plan for an aggressive digital strategy, a politically centrist editorial imaginative and prescient and an eye on restoring the home of Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite with exhausting information and enterprise reporting.
Meanwhile, insiders say CBS News President Cibrowski — a TV veteran from ABC News who spent years producing the top-ranked “Good Morning America” and “World News Tonight” — has tried to spice up rankings with softer protection that’s more squarely aimed toward Middle America.
Sources at CBS News referred to as CBS editor in chief Bari Weiss and New President Tom Cibrowski “the odd couple” for his or her clashing visions for the community. Getty Images for The Free Press
Sources mentioned Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison, who took control of CBS’s dad or mum company final fall, had been hoping that Weiss and Cibrowski — who had joined CBS News early final 12 months below the community’s earlier proprietor Shari Redstone — would complement every others’ expertise.
Increasingly, it’s trying like a flopped wager.
“They are an odd couple to me,” mentioned a CBS insider. “There doesn’t seem to be a lot of synergies between them.”
A source close to the community dismissed any suggestion that Weiss and Cibrowski are an “odd couple,” as a substitute calling their visions “complementary.” The particular person added that Cibrowski is taking “some ingredients of ABC” and mixing it with Weiss’ “fresh perspective,” noting that it’s going to “take time” to see progress.
Nevertheless, in response to a source, Weiss had tried to rent former NBC News president Noah Oppenheim, when she joined the company in October, The Post has realized. Oppenheim, now a Hollywood screenwriter and producer, politely declined the offer, a source mentioned.
Oppenheim didn’t return requests for remark.
Cibrowski (pictured) is concentrated on fixing the exhibits whereas Weiss is charting the community’s editorial imaginative and prescient. CBS News
In current months, sources famous that whereas Weiss and Cibrowski are working collectively, Weiss has her own lieutenants — Adam Rubenstein and Charles Forelle — and that Cibrowski typically denotes his outsider place by referring to them as “Bari and her people.”
Weiss, who occupies the manager suite overlooking the newsroom that was as soon as the workplace of Scott Pelley when he anchored “Evening News,” has positioned her lieutenants simply a stone’s throw away. Cibrowski’s workplace is on a completely different flooring, in response to sources.
“Usually the No. 2’s office is right near their boss’s office,” one source mentioned, whereas including that Cibrowski is making an attempt to be “loyal” to Weiss as a result of he “wants to keep his job.”
A CBS News spokesperson pushed back on such criticism, telling The Post: “Bari makes editorial choices, is standing up new initiatives, and oversees the group’s transformation. Tom leads business operations and is working intently with the Morning Show.
“That’s not ‘odd.’ That’s how successful leaders work together.”
A source close to the community insisted that Cibrowski is “not Weiss’ No. 2”. While Weiss stories on to Ellison, Cibrowski stories on to CBS CEO George Cheeks.
Weiss requested former NBC News president Noah Oppenheim to hitch CBS News previous to her arrival in October, a
source with information mentioned. Getty Images for Puck
“He’s trying to fix the shows,” one other source mentioned, including that the all main editorial and hiring choices nonetheless have to be rubber stamped by Weiss, who has been described as being on her “own timeline” and is much less involved with the fast turnaround of TV information.
“Tom is profoundly frustrated,” a third source mentioned. “He has no power.”
At “CBS Evening News” — the place Weiss put in “CBS Mornings” co-host Tony Dokoupil as anchor in January — rankings have slid to an average of 4.2 million viewers within the first quarter, down 7% from final 12 months, with viewership within the coveted 25-54 demographic down 18% to 535,000.
As beforehand reported by The Post, “CBS Evening News” govt producer Kim Harvey, below Cibrowski’s direction, has created a “soft” program that begins off newsy however sometimes offers approach to lighter fare like cute pet segments and meteor sightings.
Tony Dokoupil, who decamped from “CBS Mornings” for the “Evening News” anchor chair, has but to get replaced on the show. CBS through Getty Images
“CBS News is becoming ABC News lite,” a community source mentioned.
Another added that Cibrowski has a “dim view of the American people” and thinks they need “zero substance” however in actuality, with in such a busy information cycle, they’re “demanding information.”
Twice in March, this system’s rankings sunk under 4 million — a new low for “Evening News” — prompting hypothesis that Harvey may in the end take the autumn if rankings don’t rebound.
One former CBS exec mentioned Dokoupil can’t compete with “World News Tonight” anchor David Muir or “NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas,” who’re supported by groups of seasoned, heavy-hitting correspondents. Following current layoffs, CBS News lacks a Justice Department correspondent and its Pentagon correspondent is within the Middle East overlaying the War.
The community re-upped Gayle King’s deal as co-anchor of “CBS Mornings” earlier this 12 months. REUTERS
“You can’t do David Muir lite,” the source mentioned. “When s–t hits the fan, CBS doesn’t have heavyweights like [ABC’s] Martha Raddatz, Pierre Thomas or Jonathan Karl.”
Another source famous that Cibrowski and Weiss had been handed a “bag of doo doo” from earlier CBS News boss Wendy McMahon and former govt producer Bill Owens, who re-imagined the “Evening News” to be a “mini ’60 Minutes’” hosted by John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois. The duo tanked, with rankings persistently hitting under 4 million.
“CBS Mornings” — whose co-host Gayle King simply reupped her contract with a reportedly downsized pay package deal after months of hypothesis about her future — averaged slightly below 1.8 million viewers within the quarter ended March 31. That’s down 13% from a 12 months earlier. Viewers within the essential 25-54 demo plunged 27% to 270,000 — the show’s worst quarter ever.
Josh Elliott was anticipated to check out for Dokoupil’s chair on “CBS Mornings” however the deal fell by means of as soon as particulars
of his messy divorce turned public. Getty Images
A source close to CBS mentioned Weiss and Cibrowski have “complimentary visions” and that it’s going to take time to turnaround the struggling information community. AP
“The problem is there’s no bench and there’s hardly any frontline talent,” an insider mentioned.
Sources pointed particularly how long it’s taking to interchange Dokoupil, who decamped for the anchor chair at “CBS Evening News” in January, to co-host alongside King and Nate Burleson.
The community had been anticipated to deliver on Josh Elliott, a former CBS News anchor who beforehand labored for “GMA,” for a trial run, however sources mentioned talks fell by means of as soon as particulars of Elliot’s messy divorce had been splashed throughout the pages of Page Six.
One stumbling block has been a revolving door of new bosses, which has led to a number of rounds of layoffs. As a end result, The Post has realized that Cibrowski has turned to former CBS News expertise exec Alison Pepper to help recruit new blood.
“If this is a poker game, Tom is being dealt deuces,” a former community exec mentioned, defending Cibrowski. “CBS didn’t develop a bench and everyone else is under contract at another network. You have to go to unemployed people like Josh Elliott because everyone else is under contract.”
