Paramount Seeks Business Executive to Help Bari Weiss at CBS News
Variety • • entertainment
Key Points:
- Paramount Skydance is searching for a business executive to assist Bari Weiss, editor in chief of CBS News, amid staff unrest and public scrutiny following her removal of senior "60 Minutes" leadership and correspondents in May.
- Discussions for the new executive role have been ongoing for weeks, with Weiss involved, but the position would offer no greater editorial or creative control than Weiss, deterring some potential candidates.
- Paramount and CBS News acknowledge that Weiss’s editorial decisions since joining in October have intensified scrutiny on the news division, especially as the parent company pursues regulatory approval for acquiring Warner Bros. Discovery.
- Weiss, known for her opinion journalism and founding The Free Press, faces challenges due to limited TV operations experience, impacting viewership, publicity, and advertising, and complicating her efforts to gain staff support.