Hey, happy Monday. Long phone calls with sources = a later than usual edition today. The "60 Minutes" turmoil is definitely not the biggest news in the world, but it continues to captivate the media industry, and for good reason... |
Too much of a distraction? |
Does bad news for CBS News translate to bad news for Paramount's takeover of CNN and the rest of Warner Bros. Discovery?
Not directly, no. But the self-inflicted wounds at CBS News may raise a different question for Paramount CEO David Ellison: Has Bari Weiss become too much of a distraction?
The "60 Minutes" firings and now Scott Pelley's "CBS News is on fire" interview have exploded in the press just weeks before Paramount would like to complete the WBD deal.
"Legally speaking, it doesn't matter," an executive involved in the mega-merger said on condition of anonymity. That's because regulators are examining the deal on antitrust grounds, not on journalism-ethics grounds. "But PR-wise, it might matter," the source added.
Headlines like this one, from the Financial Times the other day, are never helpful: "Inside the CBS mutiny against Bari Weiss and David Ellison." The Los Angeles Times recently wrote that "In Hollywood, image is everything. And David Ellison has an image problem."
And merger opponents are certainly citing the CBS News controversies in their campaigning. "The same Trump billionaire buddy behind the CBS MAGA makeover is now coming for CNN," the Freedom of the Press Foundation said last week.
A cynic might say that a shake-up at "60 Minutes" is exactly what President Trump and his appointees wanted to see while weighing whether to OK the Paramount-WBD deal.
But conventional wisdom holds that the Trump administration was already going to give the OK. The real uncertainty remains at the state level, where a group of Democratic state attorneys general is likely to challenge the deal. Several news outlets reported last Friday that they're preparing a lawsuit. The LAT's Wendy Lee said California AG
Rob Bonta is "leading" the effort, and the suit "could be filed as early as this month."
"The litigation would seek to challenge the proposed merger on antitrust grounds, arguing it would thwart competition, lower wages and lead to widespread job losses," Lee reported.
Bonta and some of his counterparts, like New York AG Letitia James, are running for reelection this fall, and the Democratic base wants to see candidates taking on Trump. Paramount-WBD is a proxy fight. CBS News has not gone MAGA, but progressive voters see the Trump-shaped cloud hovering over the deal...
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The other merger wildcards |
State AG action is not the only wildcard. European Union regulators have a July 7 deadline "to clear the blockbuster deal or open an in-depth review," Bloomberg's Samuel Stolton noted in this story that revealed one possible concession. Paramount "is prepared — if necessary — to divest some children's TV network assets" to help win approval, Stolton reported.
Giving up the Cartoon Network, or something, is a small price to pay for a deal that feels existential to the parties involved. The amount of time, money and muscle that's gone into this merger can't be overstated.
Ellison "is, above all, battle hardened," Charlie Gasparino wrote in the New York Post the other day. "He and his pops believe they have earned their mandate to change CBS, and Scott Pelley can't stand in their way."
Friday's reports about the looming state AG lawsuit, which Paramount execs believe would be meritless, pushed Paramount shares under the $10 mark. Analysts at Raymond James said, "We still believe the deal is likely to close, although 3Q26 closing guidance seems aggressive."
Paramount's statement: "Opposing this deal means opposing expanded consumer choice, new opportunities for creators and workers, and greater competition throughout the creative ecosystem — the opposite of what antitrust law is meant to achieve."
Now back to CBS News...
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The Bari Weiss experiment |
On CNN last night, I suggested thinking about this period at CBS News as "the Bari Weiss experiment." The problem is that no one can agree on what the experiment is about or whether it's working.
A battery of critics say Weiss is there for political reasons. Pelley told New York Times interviewer Lulu Garcia-Navarro that Weiss has been "putting a thumb on the scale" on behalf of the Trump administration. (A CBS News rep said Pelley’s argument is not credible.)
The bigger problem, Pelley said, was "not any kind of political influence. The problem was the incompetence." That's the part Ellison may be scrutinizing — not what Weiss has done, but how she has done it.
When Ellison acquired The Free Press and put Weiss in charge of CBS News last fall, he talked about making the third-place network news division "the most trusted name in news." Go back and re-read his memo: "Our goal is to broaden our reach while solidifying our position as a leading voice in American journalism," he wrote. "Every step of the way, trust and facts will remain our guiding principles as we work every day to strengthen and deepen our connection with our audience."
Obviously, the overhaul of "60 Minutes" has not done that.
"This whole mess has wounded and damaged the broadcast," Lesley Stahl, Bill Whitaker and Jon Wertheim wrote in their Friday note explaining why they're going to "stay and fight."
The trio pointedly expressed their concerns about management, meaning Weiss, while saying they will give Nick Bilton a chance.
>> I wrote more about Pelley's interview and the context around his claims for CNN.com here...
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What I'm hearing from inside CBS |
"We are so bone-tired of being in the news," a CBS News source remarked to me last night.
After speaking with people there all weekend long, I can say that morale within the news organization is as low as you'd expect, and there is a wide range of opinion about what's gone down at "60 Minutes."
Some newsroom staffers believe Weiss is the problem, while others are more forgiving (or at least less impacted by her changes). A few told me they wish Weiss would defend herself and explain her moves on the record, though I'm told nondisparagement clauses and other legal provisions stand in the way of that.
Several others told me they're worried about a chilling effect from Pelley's firing, if colleagues hesitate to push back against management, though the sources all said they wouldn't hesitate to do so.
And CBS journalists outside NYC told me they barely interact with Weiss or feel her involvement, which is striking because, as a DC source said, "if this were all ideological, you'd think it would be the opposite," with management involving itself in the intricacies of Trump coverage.
Most of all, the CBS News staffers conveyed what I wrote here last week — that the newsroom is still soldiering on, landing scoops, asking questions, doing the work.
The big unknown, one veteran CBS Newser said, is, "How many viewers have turned us off or tuned us out because of all of this?"
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Conservatives ridicule Pelley's pomposity |
"Fox News is going to just run the parts where I'm crying and say I'm a lunatic," Pelley quipped during his NYT interview.
Sure enough, this morning's New York Post headline about the interview is "Pelley cries over firings."
FCC chair Brendan Carr ridiculed Pelley on X yesterday, saying, "One of the reasons why trust in media is so low is because many legacy journalists are completely out of touch."
I found a few of Pelley's assertions hard to believe, personally. But the interview indicates that he will continue to defend the newsmagazine's unique traits in public, seeing this as part of a bigger battle over the future of CBS News.
And Pelley continues to receive widespread support. Former "60" correspondent Armen Keteyian wrote on X about the interview, "Incredible. Scott spoke for everyone in the family, past and present. Every last word."
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'What bearing witness looks like' |
As Ali Velshi prepares to move to weeknights on MS NOW, he signed off from his Sunday show yesterday with "an emotional, lengthy defense of journalism," as Poynter's Tom Jones wrote here. One of Velshi's themes was about bearing witness:
"Some of the institutions that taught this country what bearing witness looks like are right now under pressure from, or perhaps in bed with, this administration. And that is not a coincidence."
Velshi then invoked CBS as well as the pressure campaigns against other networks. Mediaite has a recap here... |
Iran and Israel exchange new strikes overnight |
CNN added hours of special live coverage overnight as Israel and Iran traded missile fire, the worst escalation since April's ceasefire. Trump has reportedly requested that Israel hold its fire, and Tehran has halted its strikes but warned Israel that they'd resume attacks should Israel continue its strikes on Lebanon. Follow along with CNN's digital coverage here...
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Trump's 'Meet the Press' meltdown |
Trump's "Meet the Press" interview with Kristen Welker was as dramatic as advertised. I guess the rain hitting the roof of the Wisconsin barn (where the sit-down was taped) really was a problem. But the bigger problem was that Trump kept repeating various conspiracy theories. When Welker fact-checked him to his face, he responded with smears and insults.
"That is some wild, unhinged stuff from the president," CNN's Jake Tapper wrote afterward. "Welker is a good person and honest journalist and didn't deserve that but more importantly we have a president who constantly pushes conspiracy theories with zero evidence and can't respond when politely challenged on that."
Trump eventually removed his microphone and got up, and viewers could hear the "crunch" when he stepped on the mic. Of note: When he called Welker crooked, he added, "and so is ABC, and CBS, and CNN..."
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>> "Trump told NBC that he never promised not to start a new war. He did, repeatedly," CNN's Daniel Dale fact-checked.
>> "Trump should show up here at the L.A. County ballot processing center because he'd learn within five minutes this is democracy in action, not some conspiracy," MS NOW's Jacob Soboroff wrote.
>> NBC's Jane C. Timm led a lengthy fact-check of the interview compiled by the network's reporters.
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This morning, NPR announced a new chief content officer, Nadine Zylstra, who will drive the public media network's content strategy.
Zylstra was most recently the global head of programming and originals for Pinterest. "Nadine joins the organization at a critical moment for public media, arriving with a mission to build on the best of NPR's world class journalism and storytelling while developing and leading new strategies to serve the public in a rapidly evolving media landscape," NPR says...
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Trump tells priced-out Knicks fans to... watch ABC |
Andrew Kirell writes: New York hasn't had Knicks mania like this in decades. The team is up 2-0 in the NBA Finals, with Game 3 tonight at MSG, and the city has been fully decked out in blue and orange all week — bars have been jammed up, jerseys and hats everywhere, tickets priced like luxury goods.
For fans who can't make it into the Garden, the next-best thing has been a giant watch party outside the arena on 33rd Street. But that's been scrapped now that Trump's attending tonight's game at the invitation of his friend, Knicks owner James Dolan, leading to enhanced security measures.
Over the weekend, a reporter aboard AF1 pointed out to Trump that the cheapest ticket for tonight was $8,000. "Everyday Americans can't afford these sporting events," the reporter said. Trump's reply: "You can watch it on TV. It's sort of semi-free to watch it on TV. That's the way life goes."
Of course, to do so, viewers would have to tune into Disney-owned ABC, which, as we know, has been a frequent target of the president and his administration...
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