CBS News: All the Changes Viewers Should Expect Under Bari Weiss

There’s already been some major shake-ups at CBS News under Bari Weiss‘ new leadership, and from what she said during a recent town hall meeting with staffers, this is just the beginning.

Weiss took over as the network’s new editor-in-chief in October and has been implementing changes ever since. So far, her biggest overhaul was at CBS Evening News. John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois ended their tenures as co-anchors of the program in December 2025, with Tony Dokoupil stepping in as their replacement.

Scroll down to learn more about what other big changes viewers can expect with Weiss at the helm.

A lot of new faces coming to CBS News

During Weiss’ all-hands meeting, she named the new talent and contributors who will be coming to the network. She explained that these staff members will help “cover America as it actually is” and “reflect more of the political friction that animates our national conversation.” Weiss said she hopes this new talent will leave viewers saying, “They understand me. They will give me a fair shake. They respect me.”

Weiss said the “fresh talent” will be “social-first,” but appear “everywhere else, too.”

Among the new faces is Aidan Stretch, who will be reporting on the war “and much else” from where he lives in Kiev, Ukraine. Inaya Folarin Iman, who is based in London, will be reporting on immigration, race, and free speech. Jared Oh-Cha-Cher will be covering politics in New York City and beyond.

Other new contributors include Niall Ferguson, Andrew Huberman, Caroline Chambers, Casey Lewis, Elliot Ackerman, Peter Attia, Masih Alinejad, Arthur Brooks, Roger Carstens, Clare de Boer, Roland Fryer Jr., Coleman Hughes, Mark Hyman, Janna Levin, HR McMaster, Patrick McGee, Reihan Salam, Lauren Sherman, and Derek Thompson.

CBS News’ new ‘digital-first’ format

CBS News is entering its streaming era. Weiss pointed out in her town hall presentation that viewers are consuming news in a very different way today. “They are going to the vast universe of podcasts and YouTube and Twitch and newsletters,” she reiterated.

Weiss said she wants her staff to be “nimbler” in their storytelling. “In the near-future version of CBS News, an incredible investigation should be built by the I-unit as digital video on CBSNews.com and YouTube on a Thursday,” Weiss explained. “It should be featured on the evening news that night and, the next day, on CMO. And then, perhaps, we have a major sit-down with the main character airing on 60 Minutes that Sunday, and then we push the story further on Monday and Tuesday and on, and on, and on. We create the wave and then we ride it.”

The new format will focus on “the story first” and how the network can “produce the most relevatory stories for an audience that expects the news immediately and on demand, and for younger generations for home streaming and social are simply TV and the news.”

For viewers, this means more content available to stream. The network will be “investing in our extraordinary brands like 60 Minutes, 48 Hours, and Sunday Morning by building them out. Creating podcasts, newsletters, live journalism events, and more.”

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CBS’ News website will be transformed to make it “a powerful showcase” for video-first journalism. There will be a focus on YouTube and social media, instead of treating those platforms as afterthoughts.

CBS News will put an emphasis on “scoops”

Weiss hammered home her hope that CBS News will “put a huge emphasis on scoops” in the future. “Not scoops that expire minutes later, but investigative scoops, and, crucially, scoops of ideas,” she explained. “This is where we can soar, and where we’ll be investing.”

She promised that there would be more specific information about this investigative-driven content in the weeks to come.

CBS News’ new series

Weiss announced the network’s new series Things That Matter at the town hall. She said the program will be the start of showing that CBS News is “going to be the home for the hardest conversations and the boldest debates.”

Things That Matter is a “series of town halls and debates to revive honest conversation about the issues that matter most.” This program was first revealed in December 2025. It “will bring together the most important people across the country in politics, culture, and technology shaping American life,” per a press release.

There are already confirmed town halls with Vice President JD Vance, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, and Maryland Governor Wes Moore. Erika Kirk has already appeared in one of Weiss’ town hall events. There are also three Things That Matter debates confirmed: Isabel Brown and Harry Sisson on if Gen Z should believe in the American Dream, Ross Douthat and Steven Pinker on whether America needs God, and Liz Plank and Allie Beth Stuckey on if feminism has failed women.