Thank you for writing this. It is SO much more important to point out this story being killed as an affront to journalism than the gossip-y Olivia Nuzzi/ Ryan Lizza crap the Free Press fans were so recently obsessed with.
Weiss represents the worst kind of sell-out, the kind with blinders on who perch themselves on moral high ground. She most certainly has become what she proclaimed she was fighting against. Makes you wonder if she ever was for “free press.” Certainly not after getting her pay day. Welcome to state TV, Al Jazeera for the U.S.
I worked in community journalism for 30 years. A source was always given the chance to comment. If they declined, that did NOT kill the story!
We added that the source “declined to comment” and that was essentially saying, “Look, we asked the guy to explain WTF he was thinking and he didn’t want to talk about it, so draw your own conclusions.”
Mike, I came to political awareness as a teenager watching CBS heroically cover the war in Vietnam, at a time when reporters were allowed to freely cover the battlefield and station themselves at the front, in order to report back to the American people the verifiable facts on the ground. It is deeply upsetting that CBS, given its history, has done a complete 180 and now sees its primary role as providing cover and ducking hostility from those in positions of high power. History matters and will not be kind to Bari Weiss or her accomplices.
It's the same well all these hacks go to: "The Left went too far on trans issues and made me think about pronouns, which is just ideological Marxism gone amok, so I had to move to the right." Bonus points for "And the students went too far on Gaza so I had to move to the right." (Whether or not the premise is true, it doesn't have to lead to that conclusion, but it's all too common.)
Yes! I was never impressed with Intersectionality theory, and runaway DEI in my opinion has caused a some (unintended?) negative outcomes. But that never through me into the arms of maga and I have zero respect for those for whom it did. They're weak-minded as far as I'm concerned, Weiss included.
The sign below the CBS News marquee should read Sketchy which would be truth in advertising. CBS is in the "never watch" bin at our house.
Adding to this now that I have had time to fully digest this article, I have always believed that Bari Weiss is a self serving hack. Her behavior at the NYT, the disingenuous BS Twitter "reveal", her RW slanted propaganda leads to that conclusion. Her "concerns" and excuses blaming the left is merely a fig leaf for her naked partisanship. She was brought into CBS not because she had any qualifications for the job but as a wrecking ball. That of course needs no real expertise, just a mountain of grievances and shameless antipathy which that woman has in abundance. CBS will become Breitbart in Cronkite clothing. It was .lost when Ellison bought it as a catch/kill operation. Another mouthpiece for the powers that be.
Thank you for calling this infuriating corruption, and the blatant hypocrisy of B Weiss, to our attention. What can we do? I guess I will write an impotent fuming letter to CBS and I certainly will boycott the channel.
Yes, the excesses of the left could be annoying, but they sprang from a better place: the ideals of social justice. The language policing was scolding and pious , to be sure, but to compare it to the silencing and censorship going on at CBS is Orwellian insanity—and you describe it as always so trenchantly, Mike.
This isn’t heterodoxy. It’s capture with better branding. When “fairness” means power gets a veto and silence becomes a kill switch, journalism hasn’t been cautious, it’s been deputized. The most damning part is how ordinary it’s made to look. No jackboots, just standards quietly doing the job of censorship while everyone nods along. That’s not neutrality. That’s surrender dressed as professionalism
Lots of good stuff in this piece, well written - thank you. Sounds like Weiss has the right’s version of TDS which is a zealot’s visceral hatred of whatever the the left and their ‘wokeness’ represents for them. Some aspect of that seems to trigger a shame/nausea/outrage center that short circuits normal thinking and results in immediate rejection and revulsion of the speaker and their argument. Nothing one could do to shut them down to protect the right thinkers could be wrong.
Done with CBS which is not a difficult thing to give up. America runs on the money we spend. Stop watching, stop buying. Start boycotting. Our money talks just as loudly as theirs.
Bari Weiss is so focused on protecting the Israeli genocide in Palestine she red pilled herself. If you look at her through the lens of Zionism it starts to make more sense.
Bari Weiss and CBS are perfect for one another. Both have lacked credibility for a long, long time. CBS is entertainment and advertising, not education, enlightenment, or civic empowerment. We should have learned better in 2016, when former CBS executive chairman Les Moonves told us what mainstream media was really about. He slipped talking about the Donald Trump candidacy: "It may not be good for America, but it's damn good for CBS."
Reportedly whoever did the redactions on the Epstein files made the string "Trump" unsearchable but not if you add a wildcard after that (whether this is standard incompetence or malicious compliance on an order to make "Trump" unsearchable is another question).
Meanwhile the right is pretending that the left is melting down over how often Bill Clinton appears in the released documents, forgetting that, for one, the left already knew Clinton was a close associate of Epstein's and, for two, the left hates Bill Clinton already and would gladly see him go away for this. https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:hf7ezrajxadu7v3tzcyij424/post/3maljpkgbic2q
Drumming.
A very Effective style of writing.
Like Breathing.
A very Effective mechanism for maintaining life.
It’s Circularity, by design, internalizes the external.
A Vision sent on the winged notion,
externalizing the internal is still possible.
I feel seen.
Thank you for writing this. It is SO much more important to point out this story being killed as an affront to journalism than the gossip-y Olivia Nuzzi/ Ryan Lizza crap the Free Press fans were so recently obsessed with.
Weiss represents the worst kind of sell-out, the kind with blinders on who perch themselves on moral high ground. She most certainly has become what she proclaimed she was fighting against. Makes you wonder if she ever was for “free press.” Certainly not after getting her pay day. Welcome to state TV, Al Jazeera for the U.S.
I worked in community journalism for 30 years. A source was always given the chance to comment. If they declined, that did NOT kill the story!
We added that the source “declined to comment” and that was essentially saying, “Look, we asked the guy to explain WTF he was thinking and he didn’t want to talk about it, so draw your own conclusions.”
Mike, I came to political awareness as a teenager watching CBS heroically cover the war in Vietnam, at a time when reporters were allowed to freely cover the battlefield and station themselves at the front, in order to report back to the American people the verifiable facts on the ground. It is deeply upsetting that CBS, given its history, has done a complete 180 and now sees its primary role as providing cover and ducking hostility from those in positions of high power. History matters and will not be kind to Bari Weiss or her accomplices.
It's the same well all these hacks go to: "The Left went too far on trans issues and made me think about pronouns, which is just ideological Marxism gone amok, so I had to move to the right." Bonus points for "And the students went too far on Gaza so I had to move to the right." (Whether or not the premise is true, it doesn't have to lead to that conclusion, but it's all too common.)
Yes! I was never impressed with Intersectionality theory, and runaway DEI in my opinion has caused a some (unintended?) negative outcomes. But that never through me into the arms of maga and I have zero respect for those for whom it did. They're weak-minded as far as I'm concerned, Weiss included.
The idea that Bari Weiss *of all people* believes in free speech or honest reportingis completely laughable.
https://jewishcurrents.org/the-real-war-on-free-speech
another quote to remember: "running interference for power while performing the aesthetics of objectivity"
The real reason she canceled it is that she’s a right winged zealot hell bent on covering atrocities the Trump admin commits.
The sign below the CBS News marquee should read Sketchy which would be truth in advertising. CBS is in the "never watch" bin at our house.
Adding to this now that I have had time to fully digest this article, I have always believed that Bari Weiss is a self serving hack. Her behavior at the NYT, the disingenuous BS Twitter "reveal", her RW slanted propaganda leads to that conclusion. Her "concerns" and excuses blaming the left is merely a fig leaf for her naked partisanship. She was brought into CBS not because she had any qualifications for the job but as a wrecking ball. That of course needs no real expertise, just a mountain of grievances and shameless antipathy which that woman has in abundance. CBS will become Breitbart in Cronkite clothing. It was .lost when Ellison bought it as a catch/kill operation. Another mouthpiece for the powers that be.
Thank you for calling this infuriating corruption, and the blatant hypocrisy of B Weiss, to our attention. What can we do? I guess I will write an impotent fuming letter to CBS and I certainly will boycott the channel.
Yes, the excesses of the left could be annoying, but they sprang from a better place: the ideals of social justice. The language policing was scolding and pious , to be sure, but to compare it to the silencing and censorship going on at CBS is Orwellian insanity—and you describe it as always so trenchantly, Mike.
This isn’t heterodoxy. It’s capture with better branding. When “fairness” means power gets a veto and silence becomes a kill switch, journalism hasn’t been cautious, it’s been deputized. The most damning part is how ordinary it’s made to look. No jackboots, just standards quietly doing the job of censorship while everyone nods along. That’s not neutrality. That’s surrender dressed as professionalism
Lots of good stuff in this piece, well written - thank you. Sounds like Weiss has the right’s version of TDS which is a zealot’s visceral hatred of whatever the the left and their ‘wokeness’ represents for them. Some aspect of that seems to trigger a shame/nausea/outrage center that short circuits normal thinking and results in immediate rejection and revulsion of the speaker and their argument. Nothing one could do to shut them down to protect the right thinkers could be wrong.
It took me a while to understand the term "the woke right". Well Weiss is an excellent example.
Ooooo. I love the “woke right” term. So on point.
Done with CBS which is not a difficult thing to give up. America runs on the money we spend. Stop watching, stop buying. Start boycotting. Our money talks just as loudly as theirs.
Bari Weiss is so focused on protecting the Israeli genocide in Palestine she red pilled herself. If you look at her through the lens of Zionism it starts to make more sense.
Bari Weiss and CBS are perfect for one another. Both have lacked credibility for a long, long time. CBS is entertainment and advertising, not education, enlightenment, or civic empowerment. We should have learned better in 2016, when former CBS executive chairman Les Moonves told us what mainstream media was really about. He slipped talking about the Donald Trump candidacy: "It may not be good for America, but it's damn good for CBS."
Reportedly whoever did the redactions on the Epstein files made the string "Trump" unsearchable but not if you add a wildcard after that (whether this is standard incompetence or malicious compliance on an order to make "Trump" unsearchable is another question).
Meanwhile the right is pretending that the left is melting down over how often Bill Clinton appears in the released documents, forgetting that, for one, the left already knew Clinton was a close associate of Epstein's and, for two, the left hates Bill Clinton already and would gladly see him go away for this. https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:hf7ezrajxadu7v3tzcyij424/post/3maljpkgbic2q