And now, back to Bari…

In recent weeks, as Bari Weiss begins her transformation of CBS News, she has been reaching out to multiple anchors and correspondents at Fox News, CNN, and elsewhere, as well as their agents, to see whom she might lure to the network. At times, it seems she is merely information-gathering or blue-skying a fantasy roster of on-air talent. In several instances, however, she has had real discussions about the feasibility of their transfer. Her targets have included Fox News anchors Bret Baier, Bill Hemmer, and Dana Perino, as well as CNN analyst Scott Jennings; and, as I reported earlier this week, she has also discussed expanding Anderson Cooper’s role at the network beyond 60 Minutes.

In an industry where talent acquisition has its own set rules of engagement, Bari’s instinctive and freewheeling approach has struck many as unorthodox. To many TV news veterans, it is also seen as a sign of her inexperience and lack of managerial finesse. Network executives lock their talent into yearslong contracts—Anderson’s runs through 2026, Bret’s into 2028, and Dana’s into the 2030s—and include specified negotiation windows that don’t open until the final three to six months of the agreement. Savvier network leaders tend to re-up their stars before that window ever opens. Getting out of these contracts isn’t impossible, of course, but it doesn’t happen on a whim—and it usually requires quite a bit of discretion.

The casual, D.I.Y. approach is very on brand for Bari, and presumably one of the reasons that David Ellison brought her in to disrupt the business. In her very first days at the network, she made an impression on staff by personally texting major guests—Bibi Netanyahu, Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner, Hillary Clinton, Condi Rice—to book them for segments on the Israel-Gaza conflict. (On Friday, Trump sat down with Norah O’Donnell for his first interview on the network since he sued 60 Minutes.)

Bari is an instinctive editor (the best are, really): She tends to assign story ideas or editorial framing based on her gut. In many regards, this has been a much-needed jolt to the bureaucratic complacency of the nearly 85-year-old newsroom. Tom Cibrowski, the president of the news division, has described Bari’s energy and passion as “infectious.”

But hiring people requires a more delicate choreography—one involving Amy Entelis–type talent whisperers who have longstanding relationships with agents and lawyers, and understand the rules of the road. A television news arriviste, Bari is likely unfamiliar with those rules and has invited quiet mockery from her new cable and broadcast contemporaries. Some have even suggested that she might be getting too close to “tortious interference,” the legal term that precludes a putative recruiter from trying to induce an employee to breach their contract. As one critical TV news insider put it, “she probably doesn’t even know what tortious interference means.” What’s more likely, though, is that she doesn’t give a shit.

Bari’s thwarted recruitment efforts also hint at a more significant challenge. While much of the discourse around Bari has centered on an often alarmist interpretation of her politics, the real story of CBS’s Bari era hinges on her aptitude for managing a meaningfully sized business in which she has no experience. As I’ve noted before, running a television news network requires three skill sets: P&L management, talent wrangling, and a strong editorial instinct. Bari arrived at CBS News with only the last of those, as well as a reputation for managerial shortcomings. Current and former Free Press employees have described her leadership as “chaotic,” which may yet prove to be a significant handicap.

In theory, Cibrowski is there to manage the business while Bari sets the vision and tenor. But Bari’s hands-on approach is likely to put stress on that dynamic, especially since she reports directly to David Ellison while Cibrowski reports to TV chief George Cheeks. (Presumably this structure will be reset at some point.) As I reported earlier this week, Bari hired Wall Street Journal deputy editor Charles Forelle without even introducing him to Cibrowski. Her calls to rival talent and their agents have been similarly unilateral. She has the latitude to do that, of course, but it’s not likely to foster healthy relationships.

Meanwhile, the gradient grew steeper still this week. On Thursday, Variety reported that Gayle King was “expected to depart” as co-anchor of CBS Mornings after her contract expires next year. The CBS News front office quickly moved to repudiate that report, saying in a statement: “There have been no discussions with Gayle about her contract that runs through May 2026. She’s a truly valued part of CBS and we look forward to engaging with her about the future.” And, indeed, several CBS News sources assure me that there have been no formal discussions about Gayle’s contract or her future at the network.

Rival camps decipher this differently: Some see Gayle’s lawyers, Allen Grubman and Larry Shire, trying to preempt next year’s contract negotiations, while others sense that this is coming from Bari. Either way, Gayle’s exit will likely come to pass. As I’ve reported for months, today’s TV news economics can’t sustain Gayle-level contracts ($10 million a year, I’m told). Moreover, the unspoken reality—obvious to every media executive I know—is that while Gayle is nominally a star, she doesn’t rate, and hasn’t managed to move the morning show out of third place. And the icing on the cake is that her politics are misaligned with Bari’s mandate. So, yes, Gayle is likely to leave next year, but no one at CBS News has talked about that yet.

In any event, the fact that this is all playing out in the pages of Variety only further emphasizes how much Bari has to learn about the art of talent management. May 2026 is just more than six months away, which is a long time to spend sparring with your biggest talent in the trades—especially when you’re having a hard time finding any other big names to replace her.

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