CBS Evening News in Turmoil: Staffers Upset Over Bari Weiss's Reboot

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Gilberto Tadday/TED CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss is reportedly launching the revival of the CBS Evening News with a 10-city tour, during which she will travel with the program's team and bring her five-person armed security team.

On Friday, The Independent released an in-depth article by Justin Baragona that uncovered internal conflicts at CBS News. Weiss was chosen to lead the network by Skydance CEO David Ellison after the media mogul acquired Weiss’s Free Press for $150 million in October. Last month, Weiss appointed Tony Dokoupil as the new host of CBS Evening News .

In a video shared by CBS on Thursday, Dokoupil vowed that he would not be influenced by the network’s corporate leadership.

“As long as I sit in this chair, you come first,” he stated. “Not advertisers. Not politicians. Not corporate interests. And, yes, that does include the corporate owners of CBS. I report for you.”

Dokoupil’s debut show is scheduled for Monday, and over the next two weeks, The Independent reported that the program will broadcast from 10 cities across the U.S., including Miami, Dallas, Detroit, Cincinnati, and Pittsburgh. Weiss is reportedly arranging private jet travel to each location:

According to three sources familiar with the situation, Weiss is planning to charter a private plane to each city for the “Live From America” tour this month. Along with Dokoupil and CBS Evening News executive producer Kim Harvey, Weiss’s personal security team of five armed bodyguards will also be on board.

Weiss’s increased presence on the CBS Evening News reboot has sparked questions about her desire to be present for each broadcast.

One CBS News employee told The Independent, “Nothing says ‘meeting Americans where they are’ more than flying around the country on a private jet that costs millions of dollars.” This comment appeared to reference Weiss’s criticism of the network, which Dokoupil mentioned had been overly reliant on “elites” to provide expertise at the expense of the views of “the average American.”

“And if her security detail is such a huge concern, why is she going? She could watch from the control room or on an actual TV like everyone else,” the employee added. “Instead, CBS News has to cover the cost of her five security guards, private jet, and additional guards with heavy weapons. Does she not understand how much journalism could be produced with the money we’re instead spending on perks for her?”

Employees at CBS News told The Independent that “morale is really bad” at CBS Evening News. CBS News and Weiss did not respond to the publication’s requests for comment.

“This really feels like the end of CBS Evening News,” one staff member said. “Honestly, it’s so depressing.”

The Independent obtained a call sheet revealing that among the segments planned for Monday’s show in Miami were an interview with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on the state’s ban on phones in schools, discussions about people’s “loss of trust” in the press, and coverage of the Miami Venezuelan community’s growing dissatisfaction with President Donald Trump over deportations.

Baragona further reported that the program is planning lighthearted segments called “bon bons”:

In a wide range of options, Dokoupil will either play soccer with Inter Miami CF co-owner David Beckham; ask locals if they refer to it as the “Gulf of America” or “Gulf of Mexico,” following the Trump administration’s name change; party at one of the city’s exclusive nightclubs (either Club Space or LIV) or join a boat party that will see the anchor jet skiing with rapper DJ Khaled.

Another move that drew attention was the network sharing a video of Dokoupil at New York’s Grand Central Station, where he asked random travelers how to pronounce his name.

“Quite the humiliating ritual,” a CBS News employee told The Independent. “This is just embarrassing. Bari went from wanting Anderson Cooper to sending her handpicked Evening News anchor — who has no name recognition — to do man-on-the-street interviews about the fact that he has no name recognition? Make it make sense.”

The latest internal conflict at CBS News follows Weiss blocking a 60 Minutes segment about the Trump administration’s deportation of more than 250 Venezuelans to a torture camp in El Salvador.