Bari Weiss is trying to change the staffing mix at CBS News by looking to British journalists, including people with ties to Rupert Murdoch’s media orbit, according to reports cited by Techdirt and The Guardian. The move matters inside CBS because it signals how Weiss wants the network’s news operation to sound: less like a traditional U.S. broadcast newsroom and more like the sharper, more opinionated British press model. That is the sales pitch, at least.
The Guardian reported that several people familiar with Weiss’s thinking said the British hiring interest was deliberate. Andrew Neil, the former editor of Murdoch’s Sunday Times, told The Guardian that Weiss had been considering British journalists who could bring more viewpoint and attitude variety to U.S. media. Neil also backed her hiring of a journalist identified in the report as Phillips.
A CBS News source quoted by The Guardian described Weiss’s interest in British journalists as a search for reporters who would avoid soft features and polite handling of subjects. The subtext is not subtle: Weiss appears to be looking for a more combative newsroom culture, or at least people who can perform one on television.
Techdirt columnist Karl Bode framed the hiring push more harshly, arguing that Weiss is remaking CBS News into a more right-leaning operation that suits owner Larry Ellison and other wealthy conservative-aligned interests. Bode also pointed to earlier Techdirt reporting and commentary that accused Weiss of killing a story critical of the president, allowing Benjamin Netanyahu to choose a friendly interviewer, overseeing layoffs of veteran staff, and presiding over a ratings decline.
Those claims remain Techdirt’s characterization of Weiss’s tenure. The article says CBS has hit its lowest ratings in 25 years under Weiss, citing Techdirt’s previous coverage. It also links the newsroom changes to the broader ownership and consolidation story around CBS and Paramount.
The British tabloid comparison is the useful part, once the bile is filtered out. Murdoch’s media companies built a durable business around political messaging packaged as entertainment, celebrity scoops, and aggressive coverage. Bode argues Weiss and Ellison are trying to import some of that machinery by hiring people adjacent to that world.
That does not automatically tell viewers what CBS News will become. Hiring British journalists is not a content policy, and The Guardian report does not provide a full roster, job descriptions, or an internal memo spelling out Weiss’s plan. It does show the network’s new leadership looking outside the usual American broadcast pipeline for a different editorial temperament.
The risk for CBS is obvious enough. A legacy broadcast news brand still depends on credibility with viewers who expect reporting, not just attitude with better lighting. If Weiss wants tabloid velocity, Murdoch-style politics, and CBS’s old institutional trust in the same box, someone in the building may want to read the compatibility notes first.
This story draws on original reporting from Techdirt.
