CBS News staffers urged to treat both parties equally in Bari Weiss memo

CBS News staffers have received their new marching orders.

Bari Weiss, who was named editor-in-chief of CBS News on Monday after her outlet, The Free Press, was acquired by Paramount for $150 million, said in her first memo to staffers that she wants Democrats and Republicans held equally accountable.

“The opportunity to build on that legacy with you — and to renew it in an era that so desperately needs it — is an extraordinary privilege. Right now, I imagine you have some questions. I do, too,” Weiss wrote in a memo obtained by Fox News Digital. 

“My goal in the coming days and weeks is to get to know you. I want to hear from you about what’s working, what isn’t, and your thoughts on how we can make CBS News the most trusted news organization in America and the world. I’ll approach it the way any reporter would — with an open mind, a fresh notebook, and an urgent deadline,” Weiss continued.

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Weiss listed 10 “core journalistic values,” among them holding “both American political parties to equal scrutiny.”

1. Journalism that reports on the world as it actually is.
2. Journalism that is fair, fearless, and factual.
3. Journalism that respects our audience enough 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 pretension 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 sides 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, who quit The New York Times in 2020 after alleging bullying by her colleagues, went on to launch the “Common Sense” newsletter in 2021 before rebranding it as The Free Press and expanding it into a full-fledged media company in 2022. 

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Ellison, who took over as Paramount CEO in August following the company’s merger with Skydance Media, also sent a memo to staffers Monday, echoing his hand-picked CBS News chief’s call to tamp down partisanship. 

“If we are to move forward, we must find our way back to the ideals that shaped both our country and civilization itself: open exchange of ideas, vigorous yet respectful debate, and a genuine regard for the beliefs and traditions of others,” Ellison wrote in the memo obtained by Fox News Digital. 

Ellison said the media is too often a platform for amplifying partisanship.

“When we reduce every issue to ‘us vs. them’ or ‘my way vs. the wrong way,’ we close ourselves off from listening, learning, and ultimately growing, both as individuals and as a society,” he continued. “I don’t pretend to have a solution to this challenge. But I do believe we each have a responsibility to do our part.”

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Ellison wrote that the mission of CBS is clear: “to ensure that this global platform remains a place where people can seek the truth, gain understanding, and engage with the facts. That is our purpose.” 

Weiss, who built her brand around the notion that legacy outlets suffer from liberal groupthink, is sure to shake things up at CBS News.

“Everyone is waiting to see how things will fall. Nobody knows,” one CBS staffer told Fox News Digital.