One of the veteran broadcasters Bari Weiss personally recruited to help salvage CBS News publicly warned that his new boss could "crash and burn" in vivid color.
Sir Trevor Phillips, the U.K. broadcaster tapped in June as CBS News's senior global affairs correspondent, sat down with The Daily Telegraph for an interview published Monday, days before he officially starts. Asked about the walkouts, firings, and infighting that have defined Weiss' tenure so far, Phillips didn't soften the blow.
"Bari and her team have a huge tanker of a network news organisation to turn around, and they are assembling a little team on the bridge," Phillips told the newspaper, according to Variety. "The great thing about her is that she's one of those people who will either change the world or crash and burn."
"But when they crash and burn, it's in technicolour," he added.
The remarks land at a precarious moment for the network.
Weiss was named editor-in-chief in October after David Ellison, whose father, Oracle billionaire Larry Ellison, was among Trump's most prominent financial backers, completed Skydance's takeover of Paramount that August. "60 Minutes" has since bled seasoned talent, including executive producer Tanya Simon and correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi, Cecilia Vega and Scott Pelley, the latter fired after clashing with Weiss over the changes.
Phillips himself drew fire on arrival. Zeteo documented what it called a long record of anti-Muslim commentary, and Phillips has publicly opposed a formal U.K. definition of Islamophobia.
Weiss' wider hiring blitz has landed no better with industry veterans. Chief among the new "60 Minutes" recruits is New York Times opinion columnist Ross Douthat, who arrives with scant reporting or on-camera experience. One TV executive told The Daily Beast that "the idea that Ross can be a '60' correspondent is a joke."
The ratings are following the same trajectory. CBS Mornings, anchored by Gayle King, averaged 1.59 million viewers the week of July 13 — the lowest-rated week in the program's history, according to Mediaite, and a 13 percent drop from the same week last year.
