CBS Journos Shocked That New Boss Wants to Know What They Do

Writer Bari Weiss is the new Editor-In-Chief of CBS news, and some journalists worry they might now have to write fair news.

She sent a memo across CBS News asking them to explain how they spend their time.

New: In a note to staff this morning, New CBS EIC Bari Weiss asked everyone across CBS News to send her a memo by next Tuesday explaining how they spend their workday and what’s working/not working… pic.twitter.com/aPaAqBf1gu

— Max Tani (@maxwelltani) October 10, 2025

Weiss sent a memo across CBS News asking them to explain how they spend their time and what’s working and not working.

The Writers Guild, the union which represents some CBS News employees, says it has sent a demand to CBS to get more information about Bari Weiss’s request.

The WGA has asked its members to refrain from responding to Weiss’s email until they gather more information. https://t.co/ehnOV0AjlX pic.twitter.com/VxBEIUp9T0

— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) October 10, 2025

In response, the Writer’s Guild of America’s East, which represents some CBS employees, encouraged writers not to respond until the Tuesday deadline.

The letter might be reminiscent of Elon Musk DOGE committee that cut wasteful government spending. 

This is one of the most unintentionally hilarious things I’ve seen in a long time.

New boss: Can everyone share what you do here?

Reporters: How dare you?

Reporter Guild: Nobody respond. We’ll get to the bottom of this. https://t.co/mHOGh5tM61

— Matt Whitlock (@mattdizwhitlock) October 11, 2025

She sent a memo across CBS News asking them to explain how they spend their time. 

Paramount, the parent company of CBS News, recently bought Weiss’ company The Free Press for about $150 million in cash plus stock, the New York Times reported. The news company also put her in charge of the news division. 

Here’s the letter Bari Weiss sent just now to all CBS News employees: pic.twitter.com/7paieEFVvC

— Michael M. Grynbaum (@grynbaum) October 6, 2025

Weiss targeted 10 core goals that the new CBS aims to achieve:

1. Journalism that reports on the world as it actually is.
2. Journalism that is fair, fearless, and factual.
3. Journalism that respoects our audience to tell the truth plainly-wherever it leads.
4. Journalism that makes sense of a noisy, confusing world
5. Journalism that explains things clearly, without pretense or jargon.
6. Journalism that holds both American political parties to equal scrutiny.
7. Journalism that embraces a wide spectrum of views and voices so that the audience can contend with the best arguments on all side of a debate.
8. Journalism that rushes toward the most interesting and important stories, regardless of their unpopularity.
9. Journalism that uses all of the tools of the digital era. 
10. Journalism that understands that the best way to serve America is to endeavor to present the public with the facts, first and foremost. 

Weiss’ takeover of CBS follows as many small, medium, and large news outlets are going bankrupt and laying off employees. 

Trust of news outlets hit a record low of 28% in the U.S., according to a recent Gallup poll. The new leadership change might change that.