Bari Weiss physically isolated from staff, bunkered down in locked sixth floor office suite after 60 Minutes bloodbath: report
The head of CBS News is reportedly in a self-imposed “Bari-cade.”Bari Weiss, the editor-in-chief of the network’s news division, has largely remained out of view as fallout from her overhaul of “60 Minutes” continues, according to the Status newsletter.She has reportedly been ensconced in a secured, sixth-floor office suite at the CBS Broadcast Center in Manhattan’s Hell’s Kitchen nabe.The area is accessible only by special key card and is largely off-limits to most CBS News employees, according to Status.The arrangement has fueled criticism inside CBS News, where some staffers see Weiss’s physical separation from the newsroom as symbolic of a broader disconnect between management and rank-and-file journos amid the biggest changes in the news division in years, according to Status.The turmoil inside “60 Minutes” goes back to Weiss’s involvement in a segment reported by correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi about El Salvador’s notorious CECOT prison.Alfonsi accused CBS News leadership of attempting to “sanitize accurate reporting” after Weiss shelved the piece shortly before airtime so extra interviews could be conducted.The situation dramatically escalated last month when Weiss fired executive producer Tanya Simon, senior executive producer Draggan Mihailovich, Alfonsi and fellow correspondent Cecilia Vega as part of a sweeping overhaul of the news magazine.The layoffs triggered a revolt inside the program, with current and former staffers demanding an explanation for why some of the show’s most senior figures had been shown the door.Days later, veteran correspondent Scott Pelley confronted newly installed executive producer Nick Bilton during a staff meeting, accusing Weiss of “murdering” “60 Minutes” and claiming she had been “brought in to kill it.”The following day, CBS News fired Pelley, who has since accused management of trying to inject “falsehoods and bias” into reporting.The uncertainty surrounding the future of the bro...