CBS News, a network with a storied legacy in American journalism, found itself at the center of a staff revolt and union standoff this week, as its newsroom grappled with a new era of leadership and uncertainty about the future. The turmoil was triggered by a memo from newly appointed editor-in-chief Bari Weiss, who, after her high-profile arrival from The Free Press, asked every CBS News staffer to detail how they spend their working hours and what they believe is working or broken at the network.
The request, sent on Friday, October 10, 2025, landed like a thunderclap in an already anxious newsroom. As reported by Variety and Fox News Digital, Weiss’s email outlined her intentions: “I want to understand how you spend your working hours — and, ideally, what you’ve made (or are making) that you’re most proud of. I’m also interested in hearing your views on what’s working; what’s broken or substandard; and how we can be better. Please be blunt — it will help me greatly.” She promised, “I’ll read all of them carefully. And they will be held in the strictest of confidence. Then I’ll use your memo as a discussion guide for when I meet with most of you (ideally, all of you if time permits) in the coming few weeks.”
But instead of fostering openness, the memo sparked confusion and fear among staffers already bracing for potential layoffs. According to Variety, Paramount Skydance, CBS’s parent company, is expected to announce significant workforce reductions in its next earnings report. That looming threat made Weiss’s request feel less like an invitation to collaborate and more like a possible prelude to job cuts.
Within hours of the memo surfacing, the Writers Guild of America East (WGA), which represents many CBS News employees, issued a stark warning: do not respond. The union advised its members to hold off until CBS provided clear answers about the memo’s purpose and whether responses might be used as “a basis for discipline, discharge, or layoff.” In a note obtained by Fox News Digital, the Guild wrote, “We are aware that Bari Weiss sent an email asking CBS employees to provide information about their jobs and feedback to CBS News. Many of you have expressed concern to us about the purpose of the email, and we share those concerns. This is why we sent the company an immediate demand to provide information about the email by Monday.”
The Guild’s list of demands was exhaustive. It wanted to know who received Weiss’s email, who would access the responses, whether responses could lead to discipline or layoffs, what consequences there would be for not responding, how CBS planned to use the information, whether artificial intelligence would be used to review responses, and what steps would be taken to ensure non-discriminatory outcomes. “We suggest that you refrain from responding until we are able to share the information that we receive so that you can make an informed decision by the Tuesday deadline,” the Guild advised.
The result? “Mass confusion,” as one newsroom insider described it to Variety. Some producers, not covered by the union contract, felt pressure to comply with Weiss’s directive, while union members were told to wait. The conflicting guidance left staffers in limbo, unsure whether to risk angering their new boss or their union.
The stakes are high for CBS News. Despite the turbulence, the network enjoys a reservoir of public trust. According to Pew Research Center, 51% of U.S. adults who trust national news organizations say they trust CBS News — a figure that puts it on par with CNN and PBS, trailing only ABC News and NBC News. Flagship programs like “CBS Sunday Morning” and “60 Minutes” remain among the most respected news brands on television. Yet, in the daily ratings race, “CBS Evening News” and “CBS Mornings” continue to lag behind their NBC and ABC rivals.
There’s little question that change is in the air. Weiss, known for her digital entrepreneurship and her work at The Free Press, has been charged with leading CBS News into what Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison described as “a new era for American media.” In a memo sent to staff, Ellison said Weiss will “help ensure that our reporting remains relevant, accessible, and — most importantly — trusted.”
But her appointment has not been without controversy. As Fox News Digital noted, Weiss’s leadership has drawn “plenty of scathing liberal criticism,” including a lengthy 34-minute segment on HBO’s “Last Week Tonight” by comedian John Oliver. Critics have questioned her lack of experience running a mainstream TV-news outlet and her conservative-leaning editorial history. Supporters, however, point to her stated commitment to hold “both American political parties to equal scrutiny” and her direct line to Ellison as assets for a network seeking to reinvent itself.
Weiss’s memo, while unconventional, was not without precedent in the world of corporate turnarounds. She asked staff to be “blunt,” promising confidentiality and positioning the exercise as a first step toward a “shared vision for CBS News.” She wrote, “The goal is simple: I want to familiarize myself with you — and I want you to do the same with me — to know that we are aligned on achieving a shared vision for CBS News.”
Yet, with layoffs looming and trust in management already fragile, many employees interpreted the request as a potential trap. The union’s intervention underscored just how fraught the transition has become. According to Variety, the WGA’s Michael Isaac and other field representatives demanded clarity from CBS: “Will employees’ responses be the basis for discipline, discharge, or layoff? Will employees be disciplined if they do not respond to the email? Will the company use AI technology to review the responses? If so, what prompts will be given? What steps will be taken to ensure that the results are non-discriminatory?”
As of Monday morning, neither CBS nor the Guild had provided public answers to these questions. CBS News declined to make executives available for comment, and the Guild did not immediately respond to follow-up inquiries. The company’s silence has only deepened the sense of unease among staffers.
Meanwhile, the network’s leadership shuffle continues. Tom Cibrowski, a former ABC executive, was brought in as CBS News president earlier this year and is expected to work alongside Weiss, lending his expertise in traditional broadcast news. But with the future of hundreds of jobs hanging in the balance, it remains to be seen whether the new team can steady the ship.
For now, CBS News employees are caught between a desire to help shape the network’s future and a fear that their candor could cost them their livelihoods. As one staffer put it, the situation is “mass confusion” — and the deadline for answers is fast approaching.
Whatever the outcome, it’s clear that CBS News stands at a crossroads, facing both the promise of reinvention and the peril of upheaval. The next chapter for the venerable news division will be written not just by its new leaders, but by the staffers whose voices — and jobs — hang in the balance.
