Desperate Bari Weiss infuriates TV execs in scramble to poach talent: report

CBS News head Bari Weiss is still struggling to sign new talent for broadcasts, and now she is angering executives at other networks over her poaching efforts.

According to a report from media watchdog Status, the embattled Weiss still has anchor and on-air talent seats to fill and is running into resistance from some she has approached for the chaos she has created at CBS with purges, firings, and making the news organization more MAGA-friendly.

Over the last year, Weiss has been on the hunt, working to identify television talent to recruit for CBS News. While she has had some successes — poaching Matt Gutman from ABC News and Ross Douthat from The New York Times — there have been "many more misses along the way."

Many of the journalists and personalities Weiss has become "enamored with" are locked into multiyear contracts with rival networks. Weiss has still gone after the likes of Bret Baier and Dana Perino from Fox News; Andrew Ross Sorkin from CNBC; and Leland Vittert from NewsNation — a practice that has "irritated other networks and flummoxed television news agents," according to Oliver Darcy of Status.

Now she has her eye on disgraced former CNN anchor Chris Cuomo.

It's "unlikely" Weiss will be able to snag Cuomo, at least anytime soon, according to the report. The primetime host is currently locked into a multiyear contract with NewsNation, an extension that was only announced in December 2024, indicating he still has time left to serve on the deal.

More importantly, Cuomo is still engaged in litigation with CNN. Cuomo, who is represented by attorney Bryan Freedman, demanded a staggering $125 million from CNN in 2022, alleging the network wrongfully terminated him in December 2021 over contacts he had with his scandal-ridden brother, Andrew Cuomo.

According to Darcy, "It is highly unlikely that Paramount, which is seeking to close a deal that would see it acquire CNN parent Warner Bros. Discovery, would hire someone who is actively engaged in litigation with one of its soon-to-be assets and demanding north of $100 million to settle the matter."