Bari Weiss finds she has to give the “journalists” at CBS a brushup course in Journalism 101, old style
They’re so used to presenting one side of the issue that they find anything else to be anathema. They’re used to journalism as leftist activism. For most of them, I bet it’s what they’ve been explicitly taught.
Bari Weiss thinks otherwise:
CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss created a firestorm when she recently pulled a 60 Minutes piece about illegal aliens and CECOT, the prison in El Salvador.
Weiss made it clear in a memo to staff this week that she expected more from them in that story and what they put out to the public. One of the main things that she thought was missing in the piece was a new comment from the Trump administration.
One of the people on the story, Sharyn Alfonsi, apparently wrote to colleagues saying they had tried to get administration comments but there was no answer, and “Their refusal to be interviewed is a tactical maneuver designed to kill the story.”
However, guess what? The administration had answered. Fancy that:
According to Axios, the Trump administration provided three on-the-record statements from the White House, State Department, and Department of Homeland Security. There was even a more than 300-word statement from DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. None of that was included in the final story.
I would guess that the vast majority of people working in that newsroom find it horrific to have to present the point of view of this administration as part of their stories – unless, of course, it makes the administration look bad or they can twist the answer in order to make the administration look bad. The idea that the boss would call them to task for that sort of behavior is probably extremely new to them, and abhorrent.
Seems to me like Weiss ought to be giving a refresher course in “You’re fired! Collect your things and leave the building. Adios.”
Dear Sharyn, your fired. Seems these people think they are the Boss, and in many cases they are. Time for a radical shift in thinking.
SHIREHOME on December 24, 2025 at 6:32 pm:
“… Seems these people think they are the Boss, and in many cases they are. Time for a radical shift in thinking.”
Time to restate it once again: only the person or organization paying for the job owns “the job”. Those assigned to do the tasks, and follow the rules, associated with that job do not “have a job”. They have tasks and obligations to meet, in exchange for using their all too short and precious “life-time” to obtain money for other purposes.
I would assign this flawed attitude as coming via the unionization of major labor groups, but there are people here who know the history of unionization and related work roles much better than I do, so I will defer to any who can confirm or correct this idea.
The newest stories on the CBS brouhaha note that the writer lied about having no statements from the White House: they had at least three.
https://redstate.com/nick-arama/2025/12/24/heres-one-of-the-statements-the-trump-admin-provided-to-60-minutes-they-didnt-want-to-mention-this-n2197455
“…brushup course…”
“The Right’s Sectarian Moment;
“There is no massacre of Christians happening in Syria. But that lie took hold for a reason—and grasping it is the key to understanding something important about American domestic politics.”—
https://www.tabletmag.com/feature/rights-sectarian-moment-syria-christians
+Bonus
“The Church of Taybeh;
“The Catholic Church backs a sectarian info op targeting American evangelicals and U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee”—
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/israel-middle-east/articles/church-taybeh-sectarian-op
“Obama Plays a Dead Man’s Hand in Lebanon, and Wins;
“Rising up from his political grave, the ex-president cements a U.S. partnership with Iran in Lebanon while Israel meekly gives up its gains” (Note the date)—
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/israel-middle-east/articles/obama-dead-man-hand-wins-lebanon
“Eyeless in Gaza;
“How the U.S. blinded Israeli intelligence gathering efforts on Hamas and other Palestinian groups inside Lebanon”—
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/israel-middle-east/articles/america-leaves-israel-eyeless-in-gaza
https://www.tabletmag.com/contributors/tony-badran
For those NYT journos—and apparently most of those employed as journalists— “freedom of the press” means keeping articles free of the Republican point of view.
I am reminded of the Hamasniks chanting “Make Palestine free,” which has the hidden meaning “Make Palestine judenrein—free of Jews.”
I think it was Ace at AofSHQ who pointed out (paraphrasing) that if it takes your story 5 rewrites to get past Standards & Practices and Legal you should not be surprised when your boss finds it unacceptable.
@ Christopher B -not the post you referenced, but a related one by Buck Throckmorton:
https://ace.mu.nu/archives/417869.php
He makes an interesting point, and reminds us why “60 Minutes” is the Old Guard of Fake News (I have a personal example from 1976 / 1977; no longer sure when the piece aired, but we had on-the-ground knowledge that the show omitted or mangled).