CBS News’ viewership is at an all-time low as editor in chief Bari Weiss’ and the network’s president Tom Cibrowski have displayed jarringly different visions for how to revamp the struggling outlet — leading some staffers to tag the mismatched duo “the odd couple,” The Post has learned.
Weiss, the 42-year-old co-founder of scrappy news site The Free Press, took the helm in October with a plan for an aggressive digital strategy, a politically centrist editorial vision and an eye on restoring the home of Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite with hard news and enterprise reporting.
Meanwhile, insiders say CBS News President Cibrowski — a TV veteran from ABC News who spent years producing the top-ranked “Good Morning America” and “World News Tonight” — has tried to boost ratings with softer coverage that’s more squarely aimed at Middle America.
Sources said Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison, who took control of CBS’s parent company last fall, had been hoping that Weiss and Cibrowski — who had joined CBS News early last year under the network’s previous owner Shari Redstone — would complement each others’ skills.
Increasingly, it’s looking like a flopped bet.
“They are an odd couple to me,” said a CBS insider. “There doesn’t seem to be a lot of synergies between them.”
A source close to the network brushed off any suggestion that Weiss and Cibrowski are an “odd couple,” instead calling their visions “complementary.” The person added that Cibrowski is taking “some ingredients of ABC” and mixing it with Weiss’ “fresh perspective,” noting that it will “take time” to see progress.
Nevertheless, according to a source, Weiss had tried to hire former NBC News president Noah Oppenheim, when she joined the company in October, The Post has learned. Oppenheim, now a Hollywood screenwriter and producer, politely declined the offer, a source said.
In recent months, sources noted that while Weiss and Cibrowski are working together, Weiss has her own lieutenants — Adam Rubenstein and Charles Forelle — and that Cibrowski often denotes his outsider position by referring to them as “Bari and her people.”
Weiss, who occupies the executive suite overlooking the newsroom that was once the office of Scott Pelley when he anchored “Evening News,” has placed her lieutenants just a stone’s throw away. Cibrowski’s office is on a different floor, according to sources.
“Usually the No. 2’s office is right near their boss’s office,” one source said, while adding that Cibrowski is trying to be “loyal” to Weiss because he “wants to keep his job.”
A CBS News spokesperson pushed back on such criticism, telling The Post: “Bari makes editorial decisions, is standing up new projects, and oversees the organization’s transformation. Tom leads business operations and is working closely with the Morning Show.
“That’s not ‘odd.’ That’s how successful leaders work together.”
A source close to the network insisted that Cibrowski is “not Weiss’ No. 2”. While Weiss reports directly to Ellison, Cibrowski reports directly to CBS CEO George Cheeks.
“He’s trying to fix the shows,” another source said, adding that the all major editorial and hiring decisions still must be rubber stamped by Weiss, who has been described as being on her “own timeline” and is less concerned with the quick turnaround of TV news.
“Tom is profoundly frustrated,” a third source said. “He has no power.”
At “CBS Evening News” — where Weiss installed “CBS Mornings” co-host Tony Dokoupil as anchor in January — ratings have slid to an average of 4.2 million viewers in the first quarter, down 7% from last year, with viewership in the coveted 25-54 demographic down 18% to 535,000.
As previously reported by The Post, “CBS Evening News” executive producer Kim Harvey, under Cibrowski’s direction, has created a “soft” program that starts off newsy but typically gives way to lighter fare like cute pet segments and meteor sightings.
“CBS News is becoming ABC News lite,” a network source said.
Another added that Cibrowski has a “dim view of the American people” and thinks they want “zero substance” but in reality, with in such a busy news cycle, they are “demanding information.”
Twice in March, the program’s ratings sunk below 4 million — a new low for “Evening News” — prompting speculation that Harvey could ultimately take the fall if ratings don’t rebound.
One former CBS exec said Dokoupil can’t compete with “World News Tonight” anchor David Muir or “NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas,” who are supported by teams of seasoned, heavy-hitting correspondents. Following recent layoffs, CBS News lacks a Justice Department correspondent and its Pentagon correspondent is in the Middle East covering the War.
“You can’t do David Muir lite,” the source said. “When s–t hits the fan, CBS doesn’t have heavyweights like [ABC’s] Martha Raddatz, Pierre Thomas or Jonathan Karl.”
Another source noted that Cibrowski and Weiss were handed a “bag of doo doo” from previous CBS News boss Wendy McMahon and former executive producer Bill Owens, who re-imagined the “Evening News” to be a “mini ’60 Minutes'” hosted by John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois. The duo tanked, with ratings consistently hitting below 4 million.
“CBS Mornings” — whose co-host Gayle King just reupped her contract with a reportedly downsized pay package after months of speculation about her future — averaged just under 1.8 million viewers in the quarter ended March 31. That’s down 13% from a year earlier. Viewers in the crucial 25-54 demo plunged 27% to 270,000 — the show’s worst quarter ever.
“The problem is there’s no bench and there’s hardly any frontline talent,” an insider said.
Sources pointed specifically how long it is taking to replace Dokoupil, who decamped for the anchor chair at “CBS Evening News” in January, to co-host alongside King and Nate Burleson.
The network had been expected to bring on Josh Elliott, a former CBS News anchor who previously worked for “GMA,” for a trial run, but sources said talks fell through once details of Elliot’s messy divorce were splashed across the pages of Page Six.
One stumbling block has been a revolving door of new bosses, which has led to multiple rounds of layoffs. As a result, The Post has learned that Cibrowski has turned to former CBS News talent exec Alison Pepper to help recruit new blood.
“If this is a poker game, Tom is being dealt deuces,” a former network exec said, defending Cibrowski. “CBS didn’t develop a bench and everyone else is under contract at another network. You have to go to unemployed people like Josh Elliott because everyone else is under contract.”
