Katie Couric criticized CBS News’ corporate owner Paramount Skydance last week — opining that its move to put the division under the editorial control of Bari Weiss is “compromising independent journalism.”
Couric, the former anchor of the “CBS Evening News,” warned during a gala in New York last week that “the whole setup with the Ellisons bringing her in and buying the Free Press is compromising independent journalism.”
Her remarks, first reported by the Status newsletter, were a reaction to a question from New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd about the deal engineered by Paramount CEO David Ellison, who folded Weiss’ Free Press newsletter into the company and installed her atop CBS News’ editorial operation.
Last month, The Post was the first to reveal that Weiss would be reporting directly to Ellison — bypassing the decades-old management structure that had been in place at CBS News.
Couric said she wants Weiss to succeed in the new role but fears the corporate setup places too much power in the hands of ownership, according to Status.
The former “Today” co-host did not weigh in on Weiss’ specific editorial choices but focused instead on the role owners play in shaping news operations.
Paramount is restructuring after Skydance’s takeover, and the reshuffle has fueled fears among staff that Ellison envisions a standardized editorial direction spanning CBS News and the Free Press.
The broader uncertainty is compounded by Ellison’s ongoing pursuit of Warner Bros. Discovery, which could ultimately give him influence over CNN as well.
“These are really perilous times,” Couric said, pointing to what she described as eroding boundaries that once shielded newsrooms from business-side interference.
She recalled her early career at NBC News, where she said executives honored “an unwritten rule that there was a separation of church and state.”
Couric argued that the line has blurred as media companies face political threats, regulatory pressure and aggressive ownership changes.
“This idea that these corporations are putting pressure on their journalists is so repugnant,” she said.
The Post has sought comment from CBS News and Paramount Skydance.
Weiss, 41, has wasted little time putting her stamp on the Tiffany Network under Ellison’s mandate to make CBS News “more balanced” and “fact-based.”
Within weeks of taking the job, she quietly recruited former Wall Street Journal deputy editor in chief Charles Forelle as one of her top lieutenants — a move that reportedly blindsided CBS News president and executive editor Tom Cibrowski, who had expected to be looped in on senior hires.
Insiders told The Post that Weiss had already claimed her “first scalp” with last month’s exit of longtime standards chief Claudia Milne.
Weiss has also pushed to reassert control over the network’s editorial tone, questioning “60 Minutes” staffers about perceived political bias and leaning on producers to book more conservative guests.
At the same time, she is eyeing a major shakeup at “60 Minutes” itself, where veteran correspondents Scott Pelley and Bill Whitaker are said to be in the crosshairs amid internal chatter that the show has drifted too far to the left and gone soft.
“Bari isn’t wrong to try to bring in new people,” a CBS source told The Post, adding that “most of the show’s correspondents and its viewers are geriatric.”
