Jennifer Schulze is a longtime Chicago journalist. She’s on Bluesky @newsjennifer.bsky.social. Subscribe to her Substack, Indistinct Chatter.
When journalists uncover unhealthy practices at a meatpacking plant, that is news. Reporting that information helps consumers avoid tainted meat. It can even save lives. When journalists report that a news organization’s actions are tainting its product, that’s news too. And reporting on that can help save our democracy.
But don’t tell that to friends of Bari Weiss. They will just say you are deranged.
News stories about chaos, content meddling, and poor business decisions at CBS News have become almost routine since David and Larry Ellison bought the CBS parent company in August 2025 and hired anti-woke opinion editor Bari Weiss to remake CBS News. Led by the exceptional reporting of Oliver Darcy at Status, there’s been credible news coverage on a near-weekly basis from a variety of outlets, media critics, and independent journalists of yet another politically-motivated editorial decision or the resulting ratings disasters, or both.
Just look at some of the headlines from October:
LEAKED AUDIO: Inside EXPLOSIVE CBS News Israel Meeting—and Why Lesley Stahl Nearly Quit ‘60 Minutes’
Exclusive / How CBS News’ Middle East war spread to the Upper Midwest
‘60 Minutes’ Audience Sinks to Surprising Low Without Football
CBS insiders say staff want to see reporter fired for political post ripping Michigan Democrat
Under Bari Weiss, CBS News dismantled its climate team and retreated from climate reporting
Bari Weiss’ pro-MAGA CBS News pivot is falling flat: Ratings and journalistic credibility are suffering amid reports of editorial meddling
As a longtime TV news journalist, I welcome the dogged, fearless effort to report these important stories. Yes, it’s infuriating to read about the politicization of the once reliably mainstream CBS News. I’m also continually dumbfounded by the incompetence on display but it’s essential that these stories are told.
The Pushback
Obviously, MAGA media and other Bari Weiss fans do not agree. A growing right-wing chorus seems to love how Weiss is moving CBS to the right and they come to her defense mostly on — where else? — Elon Musk’s ugly social media platform, X.
The term “Bari derangement syndrome” has even entered the chat. Of course it has. Responding to any criticism by attacking the critic pushed “Trump derangement syndrome” into the national vocabulary. A recent pro-CBS piece from Puck, a digital newsletter with significant ties to the CBS parent company, titled “Bari Weiss Derangement Syndrome,” is just more of the same.
At Newsweek, a writer cherry picks the ratings to suggest that Weiss’ strategy shows CBS News is growing its audience (it’s not). Over at the New York Post, there are many off the record scoops about the misadventures of Bari Weiss but the site also ran a column saying “catty comments” and “cheap shots” from anonymous CBS staffers are meaningless.
In reality, insiders frequently have the most potent information about a company or a government agency. Just look at what reporters have been able to dig up about the Trump administration via anonymous sources.
The Importance of Media Watchdogs
The pushback to reporting on CBS’s failings is nonsense at best. At worst, it demonstrates an utter failure to understand why news matters in a democracy.
News organizations are newsworthy. Full stop. Even outlets that claim to be news but are actually right wing propaganda (like Fox) are news. Both Juliet Jeske of Decoding Fox News and Media Matters do excellent work keeping tabs on what Fox does and doesn’t share with its audience. These regular updates are important and necessary especially given the fact that Fox dominates the media ecosystem as the nation’s most watched cable network and because it’s revolving door with the Trump administration.
Other news networks and media outlets also face regular scrutiny for their coverage. In October, journalists reported on screwups at MSNOW, ABC News, and Politico. This is the kind of reporting that helps audiences evaluate what sources to trust. It is essential in a democracy. CBS News should not be exempt from this same kind of scrutiny. It may be stuck in third place behind ABC News and NBC News, but CBS still has immense power and reach through its broadcast, streaming, social media platforms and 28 locally-owned TV stations.
When Bari Weiss injects her right-coded politics into content (including headlines) about Abdul El-Sayed, the Michigan Democratic U.S. Senate nominee, someone on her team changes news stories to edit out the Gaza death toll, and hiring and firing decisions appear based on politics instead of journalism credentials, that is something worth reporting. And it’s precisely because it speaks to the central question news consumers confront every day: who can I trust?
Longtime journalist Jen Rubin says the verdict is already in. The co-founder of The Contrarian says CBS News should be shut down and 60 Minutes folded into CNN. (Full disclosure: some of my media columns have run on The Contrarian site.)
Rubin told me:
“It has become another Fox. Through story selection, personnel, and biased language it inserts the right wing biases of Weiss and her owners. It maintains the guise of independence, nonpartisan coverage but it is not. The episode involving Abdul El-Sayed was a moment where the mask fell and we saw what the operation is all about.”
I also talked to Chicago-based media critic Mark Jacob about the merits of the non-stop news coverage of CBS News. (You can subscribe to Jacob’s informative weekly newsletter here.) Jacob said:
“It’s totally logical for a news outlet to come under new scrutiny when there’s a change of ownership. No one is nitpicking about CBS. Media critics like me simply want to know if there’s a new political slant, especially considering the clear right-wing views of the Ellison family and their handpicked CBS News boss, Bari Weiss. What we’ve found is new coziness with the Trump regime, support for the Netanyahu government in Israel, and an apparent determination to target Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed for negative coverage.”
CBS is now the only broadcast television news network in country owned by oligarchs and the fact that those oligarchs have a cozy relationship with Donald Trump is also newsworthy. Already we’ve seen the how the Ellison’s gutted programs like 60 Minutes and jettisoned on-air talent the President dislikes. That it is the kind of news that matters in a democracy.
CBS News’ Abdul El-Sayed Hit Piece Marks an Unsurprising New Low
Jennifer Schulze is a longtime Chicago journalist. She’s on Bluesky @newsjennifer.bsky.social. Subscribe to her Substack, Indistinct Chatter.
It also matters that additional funding for the Ellison’s company comes from Elon Musk, who is the richest man in the world, the largest donor to the Republican Party in recent years, and owner of a rabid right-wing social media platform. That’s not all: it’s also newsworthy to report on the nearly $25 billion investment from Mideast sovereign wealth funds countries like Saudi Arabia a nearly 50 percent equity stake in the company and resulting impacts.
All of that will require continued vigilance by journalists and watchdog groups, like The Media and Democracy Project.
MAD Executive Director Milo Vassallo told me:
“The CBS Newsroom should no longer be considered a traditional newsroom; it is an extension of the Ellison media empire — and the oligarch agenda. Bari Weiss is doing exactly what she was hired to do — defang a credible news organization and frame issues in alignment with the owners’ agenda.”
He adds:
“It is more important than ever that media watchdogs and press critics provide important accountability and education for people as they build their information diets in a time of epic transformation of media.”
Critics like to point out that CBS News still sometimes produces meaningful news stories. While that is certainly true, it’s impossible to trust the news organization overall given the steady stream of politically motivated actions we’ve seen reported on by diligent reporters and critics over the past year. Stay tuned, there is certainly more to come.
The inability of the public to differentiate between channels and programs that are journalism and that are propaganda is the biggest condemnation of our education system. And it’s not just the general public. Ezra Klein proved he can’t recognize the difference when he said Charlie Kirk“practiced politics the right way.” Karl Popper understood the paradox of tolerance and the risks to the open society it presented. Being able to tell the difference between a fascist pretending to engage in honest debate to normalize fringe views (until they have the power to imprison/murder their opposition) and a small l liberal interested in pluralistic compromise is key to keeping an open society. Somehow we’ve forgotten that fascists can wear liberal clothing.
Thank you, Ms.Schulze. Haven’t watched CBS in years and don’t plan to change my mind