Bari Weiss’ fate is up in the air as CBS News parent Paramount Skydance prepares to finalize its merger with Warner Bros. Discovery next week, The Post has learned.
Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison — who revealed on Friday that the name of the combined media giant will be Skydance — is mulling possible changes to Weiss’ role as CBS News editor-in-chief once the deal is completed, according to sources close to the situation.
Those could include tightening Weiss’ focus on editorial matters versus the corporate managerial responsibilities she was given last year — including the hiring and firing of top talent, according to sources close to the situation.
At the same time, insiders said Weiss could make editorial contributions to CNN, which Paramount is acquiring as part of the merger, the sources said. That’s even as CNN CEO Mark Thompson is reportedly in talks with Ellison to extend his stint for another year.
Sources said nothing about Weiss’ fate appears definitive and a final decision isn’t expected until the dust settles with the merger, which cleared major hurdles including a lawsuit from a group of state attorneys general last month.
Ellison has been moving quickly to put his team together. On Wednesday, he named former Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz as co-CEO, and he is expected to name HBO boss Casey Bloys as the company’s streaming chief, overseeing HBO Max and Paramount+.
One insider speculated that Weiss could end up reporting to George Cheeks, currently the chair of TV media at Paramount. That would upset the current arrangement in which Weiss directly reports to Ellison, while her counterpart at the network, CBS News President Tom Cibrowksi, reports to Cheeks.
Another source said that arrangement is highly unlikely.
To date, the asymmetrical set-up has given Weiss the upper hand on major decisions, but it’s also created a power struggle between Weiss and Cibrowski, as The Post previously reported.
The situation is delicate for Ellison — who handpicked Weiss to turn the struggling network into a more ideologically balanced, digital-focused outlet. The CEO — and his father Larry Ellison, the billionaire co-founder of Oracle who dipped into his own pockets to back the merger — still think highly of Weiss, according to the sources.
They said the Ellisons view her as talented, possessing strong news judgment and great connections, and they want to keep her in the fold. But the father-and-son duo have also come to feel editor-in-chief is not the right role for her skill set, the sources said.
“She has gotten some great bookings and brought a lot of energy and ideas to the table, but she has failed to show big org leadership capability or interest or stamina,” a person with knowledge of the matter told The Post.
“She has bungled and mishandled a lot of situations and caused innumerable unforced errors that have been damaging to the CBS News brand and embarrassing to [David] Ellison,” the source added.
Weiss’ effort to shake up “60 Minutes,” the country’s longest-running news magazine, included firing senior staffers — and a tsunami of negative headlines. She also led a chaotic relaunch of “CBS Evening News” under anchor Tony Dokoupil, who has flailed in the ratings but seems to be turning a corner.
“Management is not her strength,” said a third source source close to the situation.
Weiss still has her supporters at the network. A fourth source who worked directly with Weiss in the past called her a “once-in-a-generation talent” who is a “force.”
While her future at CBS News is uncertain, Paramount made clear this week that she won’t be getting a managerial role at CNN. David Ellison once considered her for the head of CNN in addition to the Tiffany Network but, as previously reported by The Post, it has become clear to him that her current job is more than she can handle.
Insiders speculated that part of Weiss’ changed role could also entail a renewed focus on her own site, “The Free Press,” which Ellison bought for $150 million last year as they named her editor-in-chief of CBS News.
