The Bari Weiss 60 Minutes scandal is just one sign of drastic media rot
In light of the scandal at 60 Minutes, it bears repeating that the primary crisis facing American democracy is about information. There are just too many ways for the rich and powerful to control the truth.
Over the weekend, news broke that the new head of CBS News, Bari Weiss, had spiked a highly revealing 60 Minutes investigation into the torture prison in El Salvador, where the president has sent deportees.
According to lead reporter Sharyn Alfonsi, the investigation had gone through all the levels that investigations go through at 60 Minutes, including lawyers. But at the last minute, Weiss yanked it, saying it couldn’t run without a reaction from the Trump administration.
For non-journalists, understand that this is not a valid reason. Alfonsi asked for a reaction. That’s what reporters do after they discover facts that those in power do not want to be made public. That she didn’t get one is a part of the story. In saying the story couldn’t air without one, Bari Weiss in effect gave Donald Trump control of editorial choices.
And hence control of the truth.
Non-journalists should also understand that this is what Weiss is being paid to do. Trump-aligned billionaires Larry and David Ellison, father and son, respectively, installed her after taking ownership of CBS. She’s best known as an “anti-woke” pundit. She has no experience in reporting or broadcasting.
But what Weiss does have is the “only qualification that matters,” said Jennifer Schulze, a Chicago journalist and publisher of Indistinct Chatter, a newsletter about the news.
“She embraces Trump/MAGA friendly content,” Jennifer told me.
“I thought the Erika Kirk townhall was a questionable move, but even that ratings/advertising disaster can’t compare with what she’s just done to 60 Minutes,” Jennifer went on to say. “To suggest that the piece on the El Salvador torture prison was somehow unfinished and need more work is a cover for, 'Trump won’t like it so it can’t run.’”
The 60 Minutes scandal is one example of the larger moral and professional corruption of the news by the rich and powerful. In this wide-ranging interview with me, Jennifer discusses courageous local coverage of ICE raids, the sacrilege of Olivia Nuzzi, the threat of media consolidation, Trump’s health and the apparent end of PBS in Arkansas.
“It's such a shame that Republicans turned PBS into a political issue,” Jennifer said. “It's been a valuable, free source of news and information for the entire country, but the future of PBS looks grim, especially in red states where there is little or no political will to keep it alive.”
JS: Let's start locally. Chicago news media has been covering ICE raids better than the national media. Is that a fair statement?
JS: Local Chicago media is on the story every single day 24/7. The coverage has been and continues to be really impressive, even inspiring. It's exactly what everyone should want from local, fact-based reporters and news outlets: timely, sustained, in-depth.
It's also deeply personal. These reporters and photographers live here. This is happening to their city and they are out there every day making sure the stories get told. With the help of vigilant residents and rapid response groups, Chicago journalists are holding ICE/CPB to account.
The videos of immigration incidents along with eyewitness on-the-ground accounts of how ICE rammed a car, not the other way around, or how ICE threw tear gas canisters at a peaceful crowd, are providing some powerful truth-telling. Many of these accounts gathered by our local press have also been used in federal court cases to show how and when Border Patrol head Greg Bovino, Kristi Noem and their federal agents are lying and behaving unlawfully. The national press dips in from time to time, then leaves. It is not lead story news for national newspapers or TV networks, but it should be!
Olivia Nuzzi's book, American Canto, is a sales dud. Yet here I am asking you about her. Why is she important, or a liability, to journalism? Why is that important to non-media folk?
The Nuzzi story is very much insider baseball for media types. It is at its heart a story about massive, ongoing failures by all involved, and that includes the magazines she worked for and the other journalists who continue to prop her up. I would want non-media people to be reminded that most journalists operate by a strict code of ethics that prohibit reporters from being romantically involved with a source and doing political work for a source. Nuzzi is apparently guilty of both.
The story of 21st-century news media is the story of 21st-century corporate consolidation. I'm thinking about the Ellisons controlling CBS and bidding for Warner. Why is that bad for democracy?
The last thing the country needs is Donald Trump running CNN. That's essentially what will happen if billionaire David Ellison succeeds in taking over the news network's parent company, WBD.
Ellison has apparently already promised Trump sweeping changes at CNN, including firing news anchors that Trump dislikes. We've already seen how Ellison is accommodating Trump at CBS with the hiring of rightwing pundit Bari Weiss as editor-in-chief of the news division, naming a Trump ally as the network's “ombudsman,” and promises to shift news content to a more “fair, balanced” coverage, which in maga-speak means pro-Trump plus no fact-checking. It would be a big blow to fact-based journalism and democracy if the same pro-Trump sensibilities take hold at yet another news organization like CNN.
There was endless news about President Joe Biden's health. There was almost nothing but news about his cognitive decline after the June debate. Trump is clearly in decline. He falls asleep during televised cabinet meetings. Yet there’s nothing close to the media's treatment of Biden. Why and why is that imbalance important?
Ten-plus years in and the mainstream press still struggles with sticking to any one Trump story. Of course, that's part of Trump's plan — to flood the zone with endless stories so that nothing sticks. I think that's the main reason we don't see ongoing news coverage of Trump's age/cognitive ability/and plain ole bat---- crazy behavior.
Trump falls asleep in a cabinet meeting and it's a one- maybe two-day story, because here's another weird thing or another international crisis to cover. Sometimes I wonder if it's the press version of FOMO. We can't really dig into this topic because we'll miss that one over there. I also think we have to acknowledge that the White House press corps has changed dramatically since Trump came into office. This is not the same press corps that was chasing all those Biden age stories. Now there are dozens of rightwing media personalities taking up oxygen in every briefing, especially the Oval Office gaggles.
That has changed the number of questions and the nature of the questions being asked, so it has an impact on the coverage itself. I still contend that fact-based news outlets should send cameras to the White House and set their reporters loose to report. Look at the big stories that have come out about Pete Hegseth and the Pentagon ever since the Pentagon press corps left the building.
Finally, Arkansas appears to be the first state to sever ties with PBS. PBS came into existence amid the Great Society reforms of the early 1960s. Is this the end of an era or the beginning of something new?
Millions of people in Arkansas rely on the PBS programming they see on one of the six PBS stations in that state. There's no way that this new local Arkansas effort can come close to filling the gap, particularly with children's programming. It's such a shame that Republicans turned PBS into a political issue. For years, it's been a valuable, free source of news and information for the entire country, but the future of PBS looks grim, especially in red states where there is little or no political will to keep it alive.