CBS News’s Evening News host Tony Dokoupil announced changes to the network’s nightly news show in the new year, shortly after Bari Weiss took over as editor-in-chief.
“On too many stories, the press has missed the story,” Dokoupil said. “Because we’ve taken into account the perspective of advocates and not the average American. Or we put too much weight in the analysis of academics or elites, and not enough on you.”
Dokoupil elaborated on the decline of trust between the public and legacy media. He went on to say that what he was seeing and hearing in the news was not a good reflection of what was happening in his life, promising to put average Americans first, even over the corporate owners of CBS.
According to a poll conducted by Gallup, trust in the media is at an all-time low, with just 28% expressing a “great deal” of trust, as seven in 10 say they have “not very much” or “none at all.” As trust in legacy media declines, there has been a major movement toward new media and influencers for news.
Weiss is a former Wall Street Journal and New York Times opinion editor and founder of The Free Press. When Paramount Skydance acquired The Free Press, Weiss was installed as CBS’s editor-in-chief, creating controversy among some in the newsroom.
Editorial decisions made by Weiss have faced fierce backlash both inside and outside CBS. One recent firestorm stemmed from CBS pulling a planned and advertised 60 Minutes investigation on a Salvadoran prison holding migrants from the United States. She argued the story wasn’t ready, as it was missing comments from the Trump administration, but critics labeled it political censorship.
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“Government silence is a statement, not a VETO,” Sharyn Alfonsi, the reporter on the story, wrote in the email to the staff. “If the administration’s refusal to participate becomes a valid reason to spike a story, we have effectively handed them a ‘kill switch’ for any reporting they find inconvenient.”
Actor and prominent Democrat George Clooney condemned Weiss and has accused her of “dismantling” the longtime network. Weiss then invited Clooney to visit CBS headquarters.