CBS News boss Bari Weiss poised to oversee CNN editorial operations: report
CBS News boss Bari Weiss is likely to gain editorial oversight of CNN if and when Paramount Skydance’s acquisition of Warner Bros.Discovery is approved, according to a report.Paramount executives are said to have held preliminary discussions with several candidates who would come in and run the business-side operations next to Weiss while she continues to oversee editorial.The company is considering several big names, including current CNN CEO Mark Thompson; NBCUniversal News Group chairman Cesar Conde and former NBC News chief Noah Oppenheim, Axios reported.Ben Sherwood, currently CEO of Daily Beast, and former CBS News president David Rhodes are also under consideration, according to the report.The search implies that once the merger goes through, Weiss will also be put in charge of CNN’s editorial operations, Axios said.A CNN spokesperson declined to comment.
The Post has sought comment from Oppenheim, Sherwood and NBC News.A spokesperson for Rhodes declined to comment.All four candidates have extensive experience running large news organizations, a contrast with Weiss, whose background is in print and digital journalism rather than television news management.Under the current org chart, Tom Cibrowski is president of CBS News.He reports to Paramount television chief George Cheeks, while Weiss reports directly to Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison.Last month, Puck News reported that Paramount executives began informal discussions about scaling back Weiss’s role and bringing in a more experienced hand to manage the business side of both CBS News and CNN.According to Puck, the executive would be brought in to allow Weiss to focus on scaling the company’s digital operations.A Paramount spokesperson denied the report.According to Axios, Ellison couldn’t be more pleased with Weiss’s performance thus far.“The Paramount brass loves Bari Weiss,” a source told the news site.
“She has the full confidence of David Ellison, who believes Bari has done a f...