Bari Weiss Stuns 60 Minutes Staff

Bari Weiss, who started as CBS News editor-in-chief on Oct. 6, startled 60 Minutes staff during a private meeting by asking, “Why does the country think you’re biased?,” a moment described as producing stunned awkwardness. Weiss, a co‑founder of The Free Press and a former New York Times opinion editor with no prior television experience, has taken an unusually hands‑on approach to the newsroom. She has urged managers to identify newsroom leakers, pushed producers to book major figures including Hillary Clinton, Benjamin Netanyahu, Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, and proposed new contributors, live events and greater digital reach. Her direct involvement and emphasis on neutrality and serving a more mainstream audience have produced mixed reactions—some staff hopeful her energy will boost audiences, others confounded or irritated given her opinion-journalism background. Owner David Ellison has said her mandate is to make CBS more 'rigorous' and 'fact‑based,' and her arrival has intensified scrutiny amid ongoing legal and editorial tensions at the network.