CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss has spoken publicly for the first time about the ratings challenges the network has experienced under her year-long tenure, sidestepping concerns about diminished viewership at the Sunday show 60 Minutes by saying it was not her top priority.
“I could never build anything if I were focused on the precise number of people that happen to tune in to the second feature on 60 Minutes on a given Sunday,” she said at an industry conference on Wednesday organized by the tech publication the Information. The news organization did not offer press credentials.
Overall, Weiss said the show was doing “tremendously well”.
Weiss completely overhauled 60 Minutes in late May, ousting the show’s executive producer and parting ways with three top correspondents, including Scott Pelley. But the show has struggled to even match last season’s viewership, which averaged 9.1 million viewers per episode.
The show’s most recent episode drew just 5.64 million viewers, “one of the smallest audiences for the program in years”, Variety reported. The show was the lowest-rated sixth episode of the weekly show this century, a feat also achieved by the fourth episode of the show.
The show’s ratings are heavily dependent on whether it is preceded by a highly watched NFL football game. Ratings for the show have been low despite a strong run of guest bookings and news-making segments. Viewership hasn’t been all bad, either – the 4 October edition of the show drew an average of more than 10 million total viewers.
Weiss was also asked about parent company Skydance’s recent merger with Warner Bros Discovery, the parent company of CNN. While Weiss was initially rumored to potentially lead the cable news network, chief executive David Ellison instead opted to keep CNN chief executive Mark Thompson in place – for the time being, at least.
Asked whether she might be interested in running CNN, Weiss replied: “I want to focus on doing CBS News, trust me. This is a big enough challenge.”
Weiss said she is not focused on criticism of her tenure at CBS News, which has come from inside and outside the building. Her strategy has been to “put the blinders on, tune out the noise and focus”, adding: “I’m not doing anything I’m doing for popularity’s sake.”
