CBS News staffers ‘pretty salty’ over Gayle King’s passionate defense of Bari Weiss: ‘Utter disappointment’

CBS News staffers are “pretty salty” with Gayle King over her rousing defense of the network’d embattled editor-in-chief Bari Weiss, suggesting that the CBS Mornings star is just trying to “stay relevant” and save her job, according to multiple sources who spoke to The Independent.

After King closed out Tuesday’s all-hands network meeting by raging against the “leakers” in the CBS newsroom while doubling down on Weiss’ call for unhappy staff members to head for the exits, one network staffer said that the morning anchor’s remarks were an “utter disappointment.”

“Gayle instead made it about her not liking the fact that people are talking to the press about her future at CBS News,” the employee stated. “Forget the substance of people’s grievances and fears.”

At the same time, though, other network employees told The Independent that they did not get that sentiment from King’s remarks, noting that she received warm applause from the gathered staff throughout the speech.

“It was nothing but positive feelings at the end of the the town hall yesterday,” one staffer said.

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Meanwhile, a day after Weiss – the founder of “anti-woke” site The Free Press who was tapped as CBS News’ editorial chief in October – urged those in the newsroom who don’t feel she is the “right leader” at the “right time” to leave the network, CBS News President Tom Cibrowski began offering buyouts to staff members.

According to a source with knowledge of the matter, staffers on CBS Evening News were presented with the buyout offers from Cibrowski during the program’s Wednesday morning editorial meeting.

In fact, according to the source, the entire CBS Evening News staff in the United States has been offered buyouts, with no details given. Instead, they have to click on a link in an email they were sent, and must respond before Monday. In the CBS Mornings afternoon meeting on Wednesday, executive producer Shawna Thomas told staff that they wouldn’t be receiving the offers just yet.

"At yesterday’s All-Hands, Bari charted a course for CBS News that’s very different from the one we’re now on. The Evening News has a new host and a new direction, and there will be more change coming," the email reads, adding all CBS Evening News non-union staff employees are eligible. "We hope you are excited about this vision, but we understand that some of you may not be, and we want to provide support. As such, we are offering an extraordinary chance to leave CBS News with an enhanced separation payment."

The buyout offers come months after Paramount chief David Ellison implemented sweeping cuts at the company, which saw roughly 100 employees laid off from CBS News, resulting in the loss of multiple streaming shows, the gutting of the network’s Saturday morning program and the dismantling of CBS News’ race and culture team.

Variety reported on Wednesday that new CBS Evening News anchor Dokoupil and executive producer Kim Harvey have “tried to dissuade management from making any cuts” from the program.

The Independent has reached out to representatives of CBS News and King for comment.

During Tuesday’s all-hands meeting, in which Weiss laid out her broader strategy and editorial vision for the network's future, the chief editor was asked about the “fear” and concerns staff currently feel at CBS Evening News.

“Certain decisions and editorial choices have scared us,” a staffer wrote in a question that was read aloud on Tuesday. “At Evening News, people are afraid for their jobs and afraid to even speak for fear of retaliation. There has been a chilling effect within our newsroom. It feels right now like if we offer feedback, alternatives, or constructive criticism, that we are asking for targets on our backs – or the answer is simply no.”

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The network’s nightly flagship news program has come under fire in recent weeks throughout the rocky rollout of Weiss’ reboot under Dokoupil. Besides accusations of the show’s “MAGA-coded” stance, Dokoupil’s first few weeks in the anchor’s chair have been beset by poor ratings, cringeworthy pro-Trump segments, technical mishaps, plummeting staff morale and management changes.

Meanwhile, Weiss also hinted during Tuesday’s meeting that another program that has been mired in third place in the ratings could soon see an overhaul – CBS Mornings. Breaker’s Lachlan Cartwright later reported that Cibrowski “is working to completely revamp” the light morning show, which is “expected to take a more aggressive approach to breaking stories.”

At one point in the all-hands meeting, Weiss declared that “we are going to be talking a lot about scoops” going forward, adding that CBS News will be focused on “scoops of investigations, scoops of ideas and scoops of explanation.”

On top of that, while simultaneously announcing the hiring of 18 new network contributors – a mix of Free Press writers, journalists and controversy-seeking podcasters – Weiss also called CBS News “the best-capitalized media startup in the world” before offering an off-ramp to staffers disgruntled with her editorial approach.

“But startups aren’t for everybody,” Weiss said. “If that’s not your bag, that’s OK. It’s a free country, and I completely respect if you decide I’m not the right leader for you, or this isn’t the right place at the right time.”

King, who has been the subject of swirling rumors that she could soon be ousted at CBS Mornings due to her hefty salary and age, spoke up towards the end of the question-and-answer session of the meeting to both praise Weiss’ vision and rage about the “leakers” at the network.

“I think we've all been walking around with gasoline on our pants. You know, we've had a lot of incoming. People come and pet me like a puppy and say, ‘I'm so sorry that you're leaving CBS,” she said. “I won't watch you guys again. It's not the same place.’ And when I come here, what I see every day are people who really love what they do. We work really hard. We're very proud of what we do here, and I don't want anybody to lose sight of that.”

After drawing applause for saying she doesn’t want “anybody to lose sight of what we do in this building and how good we are at our jobs,” King lauded Weiss for laying “out a very good case for what you want this company to be, and so I'm so appreciative of that.”

While the first half of her remarks appeared to be an effort to rally the troops, King then segued to blasting those at CBS News who have leaked to the media – seemingly seeking to empathize with Weiss, who has been pilloried in the press over her tumultuous first few months on the job. The morning host and best friend of Oprah Winfrey also appeared to enforce Weiss’ “love it or leave it” message to staff.

“I would like to think that we can have conversations, and then we could talk candidly with each other, and it's not going to be friggin’ be in the paper. I am so sick of that. I'm so sick of it! I'll be curious to see how long it takes for this to get out,” she exclaimed.

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“I’m tired of it. If you don't want to be here, if this is not the place for you, it's OK,” King concluded. “But for the rest of us who would like to be here, like to do a good job and figure things out along the way, this is very bumpy times for all of us, and we don't know how it's going to turn out, but I do know that we want to work hard and do a good job.”

According to one CBS News insider, King has “never been a leader” and the network “is in dire need of someone the staff can rally around.” Additionally, the insider felt that King just “wants to stay relevant” and remain a CBS Mornings anchor.

“She’s not going to say anything against the person who will determine her job status. This was her only play,” the insider further noted.

On top of that, a network staffer stated that much of the newsroom was “pretty salty” over King’s performance, an assessment that two other network sources agreed with.

Stating that King “started off almost protective” of the CBS News staff with her speech, the staffer said “it devolved into such an utter disappointment” because she “made it about her not liking the fact that people are talking to the press about her future at CBS News” and forgot about the “substance of people’s grievances and fears” at the moment.

Reacting to King's statement that staffers unhappy with Weiss's editorial vision could just leave, the network employee said many staff members don’t have that luxury.

“Have a little consideration for CBS staffers, Gayle. You’ve earned at least 200 million dollars since joining CBS News and earn millions more from what Oprah pays you to run Oprah Daily. Zero percent of us can just walk away and go back to our Manhattan penthouse to do something else,” they stated.

“It just seemed like what started as a rousing speech then became all about her and the press and telling people to leave if they don’t like things like Weiss muzzling stories like CECOT and her pro-MAGA agenda at Evening News,” the staffer added. “I know Gayle knows being on CBS Mornings is what keeps her relevant, but we’re talking about the integrity of our news here.”

Still, other staffers who spoke with The Independent said they “did not get that tone at all” from King and added that the 70-year-old host is “beloved” among the CBS Mornings crew.

“It was overwhelmingly positive,” one CBS News employee who was in the room for the all-hands meeting asserted.