Dan Rather Slams CBS News Over Appointment of New Boss Bari Weiss

Former CBS Evening News anchor Dan Rather has shared another ominous warning for the future of CBS News following Paramount CEO David Ellison’s hiring of Bari Weiss as the network’s new editor in chief.

Taking to his Substack page on Thursday (October 9), Rather wrote that it’s “a dark day in the halls of CBS News,” criticizing Ellison’s decision to hire Weiss, whom he said was “not a reporter” and “has never worked in television news.”

Weiss is known for founding The Free Press with her spouse, Nellie Bowles. The publication started life as a newsletter in 2021 before growing into an associated media company in 2022. Paramount Skydance acquired the site on Monday (October 6) and named Weiss as the new editor in chief of CBS News.

Rather, who previously slammed Paramount as bowing to pressure from the Trump administration in an effort to push its merger with Skydance through (which required FCC approval), said “That deal and the hiring of Weiss signals to everyone, especially to the man in the Oval Office, that CBS is no longer independent, but under the tutelage of a conservative billionaire who is putting more than his thumb on the scale.”

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The veteran journalist shared his sympathies for reporters working at CBS News, saying they will “now have to be concerned about how their pitches, their stories, and their scripts will be received by someone with a clear political agenda. They will be dogged by worry that anything they do, any question they ask, will be scrutinized to ensure that it suits the political powers.”

He said “anything that runs afoul of Trump’s agenda” is unlikely to be aired “unaltered,” if aired at all. “No journalist or their work can remain unaffected by toiling in such an environment,” Rather added.

Summing up his thoughts, Rather, who worked for CBS News for over 44 years, predicted that the “American people will pay the price for this move, as will the journalists of CBS News who can no longer credibly serve as watchdogs because the ones they are meant to hold to account are signing their paychecks and hobnobbing with the president.”