Behind the Scenes of Bari Weiss’s Latest Pro-Israel Purge of CBS News
Plus, Politico’s owner tells staffers support Israel or leave. And, is Disney finally taking a stand against Trump amid Kimmelgate 2.0?
Good evening, and welcome to this week’s ‘Ragebait.’
Justin Baragona here, bringing you the latest media dispatches from the right-wing industrial outrage complex and Bari World. In tonight’s edition, we take a behind-the-scenes look at how Bari Weiss blew up CBS News’ international news coverage. Plus, another prominent news outlet is telling its staffers to love Israel or leave. Also, is Disney showing some backbone during Kimmelgate 2.0, and where does Trump’s America rank in terms of press freedom?
On top of that, if you haven’t already, please check out my deep-dive profile on the face of Bari’s CBS – Tony Dokoupil. I spoke to a lot of people for it!
Blindsided by Bari
Earlier this week, CBS News staffers were shocked to learn that well-respected London bureau chief Claire Day – who has spent nearly 25 years with the network – was leaving the company at the end of the month amid a broad editorial restructuring of CBS’s international coverage.
While network president Tom Cibrowski claimed in a memo to staff that Day’s departure had been a mutual decision, both the New York Post and Status quickly reported that she had effectively been “ousted” from her role following simmering tensions with editor-in-chief Bari Weiss over the bureau’s Middle East coverage.
The Post, specifically, noted that an unnamed freelance cameraman and editor had accused Day of running the bureau like a “Hamas cell,” while Status reported that Weiss – a self-avowed “Zionist fanatic” – at one point griped that London was so biased against Israel that “they might as well be Hamas.”
Speaking to several CBS sources, I’ve since learned that Weiss may have gained some of her perception about Day’s supposed anti-Israel bias from her conversations with Cameron Stewart, a freelance cameraman who has been working out of CBS News’ London bureau since late 2019.