Bari Weiss was “very, very involved” with a report, insiders said.
CBS boss Bari Weiss clashed with 60 minutes Lesley Stahl captioned a report on violent Israeli settlers that aired on the show this week, revealing a stunning leak.
The crisis was reportedly so severe that Stahl, a 35-year veteran of the popular news magazine, privately discussed plans to quit, people familiar with the matter said. Status.
The reason was that Weiss – a staunch supporter of Israel and critic of media coverage of the Gaza war – repeatedly inserted herself into the editorial process, according to inside sources. Just days before the program aired on Sunday, the screenings became “extraordinarily controversial,” according to Status.
Lesley Stahl joined “60 Minutes” in 1991. Her 34 years on the show make the 84-year-old one of the longest-serving correspondents.
Jemal Countess/Getty Images for student leaders
Weiss and his deputy, editor-in-chief Charles Forelle, brought a bunch of editorial notes, leaked by insiders. Weiss became “very, very involved,” said a person familiar with the saga.
Their notes were not specific, but general, setting the stage for Stahl’s vehement reaction, the insiders said.
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Outrage crescendoed when Forelle, the former deputy editor of the Wall Street Journal, suggested saving the article for a later date, people close to him told Status. Stahl, however, wanted to fight right away and get the play over the line.
An “aggressive back and forth” ensued, with the veteran journalist fighting to broadcast the story on Sunday, which he did.
But behind the scenes, it was chaos, the sources said, describing screenings that stretched into Saturday. The public announcements, usually released on Friday, were not released until Sunday morning, due to concerns about their release.
“They didn’t know if it was going to air because the screenings were so busy,” a source told Status.
The saga echoes Weiss’ intervention in an article on the CECOT megaprison in El Salvador in December last year. She wanted to give the Trump administration more time to comment, but did not. She was accused of being politically partisan and the episode led correspondent Sharon Alfonsi to leave CBS after her contract was not renewed.
It’s unclear exactly what the atmosphere is like between Stahl and her superiors this week, but Status reported that she and fellow correspondents Bill Whitaker and Jon Wertheim met Monday for a mysterious chat.
Weiss transformed CBS.
Noam Galai/Getty Images for The Free Press
CBS, for its part, said the status report was much ado about nothing. “This is a ridiculous and twisted story. All ’60 Minutes’ articles go through a rigorous editorial process, which includes edits by editors. This article received far fewer edits than most,” a spokesperson said.
“I’m surprised Bari let this slide,” said a YouTube commenter under the package, which showed Israeli settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.
Another report critical of Israel was released on October 7, the anniversary of a series of horrific attacks by Hamas militants in 2023.
CBS News marked the anniversary, in part, by publishing an article by foreign correspondent Holly Williams that discussed Israel’s extremely violent response to the attacks.
But Williams later encountered difficulties when she wanted to include the death toll from the Gaza war in a CBS Evening News pack. Weiss’ hand-picked foreign editor, Shayndi Raice, noticed the character in Williams’ script and sounded the alarm, inside sources said.
Raice was recruited to replace Claire Day, a 25-year veteran of the channel, who left amid clashes over the channel’s coverage of Israel’s wars in Gaza and Iran, according to reports.
Ultimately, the figure was not released, leaving Williams frustrated. Status reported that she was wondering if she would stay at the station long term.
CBS has been contacted for comment.
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