Bari Weiss faces challenge as CBS News buries Virginia Dem Jay Jones scandal

Barry Weiss has been tasked with leading CBS News into the modern, post-partisan era, but old habits die hard as the network continues to bury a political scandal that rocked Virginia during his first week on the job.

On Monday, Weiss was officially named editor-in-chief of CBS News after Paramount acquired her outlet The Free Press for $150 million, according to multiple reports. She will report directly to Paramount’s new CEO, David Ellison.

In a memo to CBS News staff, Weiss listed ten “Core journalistic valuesIt wants to practice, including subjecting “both American political parties to equal scrutiny.” Ellison similarly expressed his desire to quell “partisan division” in his own memo to Paramount employees.

This message does not seem to have resonated with the general public, at least not yet. According to show transcripts reviewed by Fox News Digital, CBS News has yet to provide any on-air coverage of the growing controversies plaguing Jay Jones, the Democratic nominee for Virginia attorney general.

Barry Weiss joins CBS News as editor-in-chief, and Paramount buys free press for $150 million

Bari Weiss has been named editor-in-chief of CBS News as part of Paramount’s $150 million purchase of its fledgling news outlet The Free Press. (Noam Galai/Getty Images for the Free Press)

last week, Text messages A 2022 letter Jones sent to a fellow lawmaker has surfaced showing he fantasized about giving then-Republican House of Delegates Speaker Todd Gilbert “two bullets to the head,” even suggesting that if Gilbert witnessed the killing of his children it would encourage him to focus on politics. Jones has since apologized.

Other controversies arose, including allegations that Jones said that if more police were killed it would reduce shootings of civilians. Which he denied. And after a Conviction for reckless driving In 2022, Jones served 500 hours of “community service” on his political action committee.

Liberal media downplays DEM Virginia AG scandal brimming with Jay Jones texts that fantasize about killing GOP lawmaker

The political ramifications remain unclear. Jones’ troubles could impact the Virginia governor’s race as fellow Democrat Abigail Spanberger maintains her lead in the polls against her Republican challenger, incumbent Gov. Winsome Earl Sears. Although Jones was not asked by any Democratic official to withdraw from the race, he did so He had to cancel the fundraiser.

Neither “CBS Mornings,” “CBS Evening News” nor Sunday’s “Face The Nation” had named Jones as of Thursday, according to the transcripts. The network published an article and referenced the story on its little-watched streaming platform.

A CBS News employee told Fox News Digital that Jones had been mentioned in editorial discussions, but was puzzled as to why the network’s morning and evening newscasts avoided the topic.

Jay Jones, who is running for Virginia’s attorney general, has come under fire for a series of text messages calling for the killing of political opponents and his statements about police officers. (Maxine Wallace/The Washington Post/Getty Images)

Weiss’ guidance may not work with “activist journalists,” says Jeffrey McCall, a professor of journalism at DePauw University, pointing to the soft coverage of the Jay Jones scandal as an early example.

“Her mission is not just to change isolated news decisions,” McCall told Fox News Digital. “It will have to change the entrenched culture that has led to CBS’s long-standing tendency to skew leftward.”

What stories CBS News chooses to cover or not cover on the airwaves and how they frame today’s political news have alienated large swaths of the country, especially in an age Donald Trump.

Barry Weiss was named CBS News Editor of the Year, bringing down the liberal media

Before the 2020 presidential election, 60 Minutes correspondent Lesley Stahl tossed out Hunter Biden’s scandalous laptop during a controversial exchange with Trump.

Stahl rebuked Trump, saying, “This is 60 Minutes and we can’t present things we can’t verify.” CBS News Ultimate Check your laptop In 2022.

“60 Minutes” correspondent Lesley Stahl famously said that Hunter Biden’s laptop could not be verified during a tense exchange with President Donald Trump in the final weeks of the 2020 presidential election. (Screenshots/CBS News)

Fast forward to the 2024 election, and “60 Minutes” has been engulfed in much greater controversy, this time including its handling of an interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris. Trump filed a lawsuit against CBS News ‘Election interference’ allegation after the network was accused of sharing one of Harris’ “word salad” responses before a primetime “60 Minutes” election special after a preview clip that aired on “Face The Nation” went viral among her critics.

A Raw interview transcript Which was later released revealed that the two sets of comments that were broadcast came from different parts of the same answer. While CBS News has denied any wrongdoing, Paramount reached a multimillion-dollar settlement in July that it hoped would pave the way for its $8 billion merger with Skydance, which Trump’s FCC approved days later. As part of the settlement, CBS News updated its policies requiring programs to release unedited transcripts of interviews with presidential candidates.

Paramount, CBS forced to pay eight figures, change editorial policy in settlement with President Trump

Bill Whitaker’s “60 Minutes” interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris is at the center of a high-stakes lawsuit. (Screenshots/CBS News)

This was not the only election controversy in which CBS was involved. The network was heavily criticized by conservatives for the way anchors Norah O’Donnell and Margaret Brennan moderated the vice presidential debate between the then-Ohio senator. J.D. Vance His Democratic rival is Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.

Although CBS announced that it would not allow live fact-checking during the debate, the moderators repeatedly fact-checked Vance, even cutting off his microphone at one point.

CBS debate moderators slam Vance’s ‘abhorrent’ fact-checking: ‘Terrible look’

Brennan, the host of “Face The Nation,” has particularly drawn the ire of conservatives Their combat exchanges With Republicans, including Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Its reputation is such that it won this year’s “Liberal Hack Tournament,” the annual viral NCAA-style competition run by the Ruthless podcast.

CBS anchors Norah O’Donnell and Margaret Brennan drew negative feedback for how they handled moderating the vice presidential debate. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

CBS News faced internal conflict when far-left staffers fumed at “CBS Morning” co-anchor Tony Dokoupil for daring to challenge anti-Israel author Ta-Nehisi Coates in a tense interview last year. Things got so bad that CBS News leadership at the time reprimanded the Jewish anchor and forced him to interview the network’s internal race and culture unit after receiving complaints, saying his interview did not meet the company’s “editorial standards” (it should be noted that Weiss and Ellison are both staunch supporters of Israel).

Just last month, CBS News anchor John Dickerson said the motive for the assassination of Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk remains “elusive,” despite reports about… The leftist ideology of the alleged killer.

Charlie Kirk’s murderer’s motives remain “elusive,” claims CBS News anchor

Weiss’ meteoric rise to the top of a storied media organization is drawing the ire of liberal journalists. Weiss He famously resigned from The New York Times In 2020, she wrote a scathing resignation letter in which she detailed bullying by her colleagues in what she called an “illiberal environment.” In 2022, she launched The Free Press, which has been largely ostracized by the cultural left for its reporting challenging DEI, gender ideology and media narratives against Israel in its war with Hamas.

Barry Weiss announced Monday that she has officially become editor-in-chief of CBS News. (Lee Vogel/Getty Images for Uber, X and The Free Press)

Staffers who spoke with Fox News Digital are open to the “new ideas” Weiss might bring to CBS News, though she still has her detractors at the network, especially after her first appearance on the network’s editorial call on Tuesday, where she made a rallying cry, “Let’s do the damn news.”

“I feel like the people who wrote her off are probably in their corner,” one employee told Fox News Digital. “I think people who are open to it are still open.”

Many of her liberal critics in the media claim that Weiss is a “conservative” and will bring the network to its knees before Trump, though she has publicly criticized him on her podcast “Frankly.” Some also believe that her hiring by Ellison was part of an arrangement Paramount made with Trump to resolve his lawsuit.

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Paramount CEO David Ellison controls the newly formed company. (Charlie Tripalo/AFP via Getty Images)

Case newsletter author Oliver Darcy, who helped lead the charge to oust CNN CEO Chris Licht when he tried to reform the liberal cable network, criticized Ellison’s move to put Weiss in charge.

“Ellison has pledged not to politicize Paramount — yet his first big move at CBS News is a big bet on Barry Weiss, one of the most polarizing figures in media,” Darcy began his newsletter Wednesday night. “Fiercely pro-Israel, proudly counter-cultural, Vice has built its brand on polarizing political commentary — presumably the kind of material Ellison has indicated to reporters he wants to escape from.”

CBS News did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

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Fox News Digital’s Kristin Parks and Lindsay Cornick contributed to this report.