CBS News’s reliably liberal staff is fuming at the hiring of a former president and CEO, Kenneth Weinstein, of a conservative think tank, the Hudson Institute, to serve as the network’s ombudsman and “review editorial questions and concerns” as executives aim to clean up the storied broadcaster.CBS News’s parent company, Paramount, announced the pick of Mr. Weinstein on Monday. He will report to Paramount’s chief, Jeff Shell, rather than to the CBS boss, George Cheeks, who was known as a champion of “diversity, equity, and inclusion” and racial quotas when they were still in vogue. The new CBS owner, Skydance, made written commitments to fair journalism as it sought to win the Federal Communications Commission’s approval of its acquisition of Paramount Global. Those commitments also came with a promise to hire an ombudsman to evaluate complaints of bias at the network. Last month, a columnist for the New York Post, Charles Gasparino, reported that Paramount was interviewing conservative media figures and former think tank executives for the role. The decision sparked backlash from left-wing journalists who fretted that he will transform CBS News into a right-wing outlet. A far-left media reporter, Oliver Darcy, highlighted a column written by Mr. Weinstein that labeled President Trump the “ultimate outsider” and a “bold businessman who asks uncomfortable questions that typical policymakers are too squeamish to ask.”Mr. Darcy also said Mr. Weinstein’s “record includes a stream of alarmist rhetoric popular in right-wing media,” such as a column in the New York Post that stated “women can no longer walk safely at night in cities” in Europe because of the wave of “migration from Islamic countries since 2015.” Mr. Darcy left out Mr. Weinstein’s reference to an attack at Munich in February that killed a mother and her 2-year-old child. Officials said the perpetrator was an Afghan migrant, described as an “Islamic extremist,” who drove his car into a crowd of demonstrators. A left-wing X account, the Tennessee Holler, wrote about the decision to hire Mr. Weinstein: “CBS quickly becoming the new Newsmax.”A liberal journalist, Jeff Jarvis, wrote, “Between this and Bari Weiss, it’s time to erase the C. It’s just BS.”A former Democratic New Hampshire state representative, Clyde Carson, said that it is “time to boycott CBS.”Some commentators also complained that Mr. Weinstein does not have a formal background in journalism. However, he served as the head of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, which supervised American broadcasters such as the Voice of America, between 2017 and 2020.Mr. Shell said in a statement that Mr. Weinstein has a “wealth of advisory experience in media and beyond” and a “calm, measured perspective that makes him exceptionally well-suited to serve as our Ombudsman.” Mr. Weinstein said he looks forward to “supporting the talented team behind its reporting and to stewarding public trust in this critical institution.”While liberal journalists and commentators expressed anxiety about the future of CBS News with the addition of Mr. Weinstein, there is not an indication that he would have the unilateral authority to influence the editorial direction of the Tiffany Network. Indeed, Mr. Darcy noted that Mr. Weinstein will receive complaints and that if he “deems [a complaint] valid, he must escalate it to [Mr. Shell] and television division chief George Cheeks.”“Only if they agree would the matter reach CBS News President Tom Cibrowski, who would then be tasked with implementing any corrective action,” Mr. Darcy wrote. Despite the procedure for evaluating complaints, Mr. Darcy suggested that Mr. Weinstein’s “very presence in the chain of command exerts pressure” and even if he “never formally intervenes in coverage, his appointment creates a chilling effect.”Mr. Darcy also insisted that Mr. Weinstein’s appointment “directly contradicts” statements from the Skydance CEO, David Ellison, about not wanting to “politicize” the network and “raises serious questions about whether CBS News’ editorial independence can survive under Ellison’s ownership.”Whether Mr. Weinstein’s appointment will actually create a chilling effect is yet to be seen. CBS News’s “60 Minutes” ran near-weekly anti-Trump stories despite reported signals from the top brass to tone down the coverage as the government reviewed the Skydance deal.The nonexecutive chairwoman of Paramount before the Skydance deal was finalized, Shari Redstone, asked if “60 Minutes” would “hold off on stories about Mr. Trump and his administration” until the FCC approved the Skydance deal, Puck’s Dylan Byers reported in April. Ms. Redstone also reportedly sought to have the former executive producer of “60 Minutes,” Bill Owens, fired after the program aired a story about State Department dissent over America’s response to Israel’s war against Hamas. The report was labeled “shockingly one-sided” against the Jewish state by the American Jewish Committee.Mr. Owens eventually quit under pressure after Ms. Redstone installed a rival CBS News executive, Susan Zirinsky, to vet “60 Minutes” scripts for antisemitic and anti-Israel bias. “60 Minutes” is notoriously prickly about its independence from the rest of CBS News, which is considered to be inferior.Even after Mr. Owens’s exit, “60 Minutes” continued its weekly anti-Trump series of stories, savaging the Trump administration for its foreign policy, cuts to the NIH, and Mr. Trump’s battle with corporate law firms that hired his opponents and performed pro bono work to undermine his policies, including his crackdown on the border. The story about the law firms, which featured a fawning interview with Democratic attorney Marc Elias, who was involved with the 2016 smear campaign against Mr. Trump regarding Russia, nearly led to a defamation lawsuit from the president.Even as there was uncertainty about whether the new owners of CBS News would try to influence the network’s editorial voice, the marquee talent have recently seemed determined to operate as though it were business as usual. The host of “Face the Nation,” Margaret Brennan — who has been plagued by allegations of a liberal bias — was recently accused by Secretary Marco Rubio of pushing a “stupid media narrative” when she suggested European leaders were concerned President Trump would “bully” the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, into making a “bad” deal to end Russia’s invasion. Mr. Trump, in a recent interview, said Ms. Brennan is “nasty.”The news of Mr. Weinstein’s hiring comes as reports say that Mr. Ellison is in talks to buy a pro-Israel, anti-woke outlet, the Free Press, and give its founder, Bari Weiss, a role in shaping CBS News’s editorial voice, which has sparked outrage from anti-Israel commentators. Mr. Darcy spent almost his entire podcast this weekend attacking the Free Press as uninspired and poorly written and edited.However, the brass at Paramount and CBS also appear to be trying to strike a delicate balance to address complaints of bias without roiling the staff. On Friday, after persistent allegations that “Face the Nation” had deceptively edited interviews with Republican officials to make them sound worse, the network announced that the program would no longer edit pre-recorded interviews. Mr. Weinstein did not provide a comment. Paramount did not respond to the Sun’s request for comment by the time of publication.
