'We Just Got Elon Musk-ed'

Bari Weiss is taking a page out of Elon Musk’s playbook. Days after taking over as editor in chief of CBS News, Weiss sent the network’s journalists an email Friday that set off alarm bells. Every staffer, she said, must write for her a memo by Tuesday detailing how they spend their working hours, what they’ve produced, what’s broken, and how they’d fix it.

In her memo, The Free Press founder framed the directive as a way to get acquainted with her new troops. “CBS News is a big place with functional titles and reporting structures that I'm learning. But more than the hierarchical niceties, I'm eager to get to know you,” she wrote.

“I'm not looking for a JD or words like synergy,” she continued. “I want to understand how you spend your working hours-and, ideally, what you've made (or are making) that you're most proud of. I'm also interested in hearing your views on what's working; what's broken or substandard; and how we can be better. Please be blunt-it will help me.”

But her closing line came with a change in tone that suggested something else: “The goal is simple: I want to familiarize myself with you—and I want you to do the same with me—to know that we are aligned on achieving a shared vision for CBS News.”

If that sounds familiar, it’s because we’ve seen this play before—from Elon Musk. When The Tesla-billionaire’s short-lived and disastrous Department of Government Efficiency demanded federal workers email him lists of their accomplishments to justify their jobs, the move was merely a pretense to fire those he saw as expendable. Those who failed to do so, were told they would be fired. Weiss now appears to be running a similar experiment inside a newsroom.

For many staffers of the storied outlet, the intent of the memo was clear. “We just got Elon Musk-ed,” one told Status. Another was more blunt: “It is a little bit like singing for your supper.”

Of course, any new leader would understandably want to take stock of their newsroom and understand how it operates. But demanding written justifications from every staffer isn’t the way to do it—not in a profession built on trust, independence, and collaboration. Weiss’ version of a listening tour will also surely bury her in paperwork. Compared with the few dozen who work at The Free Press, CBS News employs hundreds of people. A memo from each would amount to a full-time job just to read them.

Hours after Weiss’ memo landed in inboxes, the Writers Guild of America, which represents many CBS News employees, urged staffers to not respond to the request. “We are aware that Bari Weiss sent an email asking CBS employees to provide information about their jobs and feedback about CBS News,” the union wrote to members. “Many of you have expressed concern to us about the purpose of the email, and we share those concerns.”

“That is why we sent the company an immediate demand to provide information about the email by Monday,” the WGA continued. “We suggest that you refrain from responding until we are able to share the information that we receive so that you can make an informed decision by the Tuesday deadline.”

While Weiss was installed by Paramount owner David Ellison less than a week ago, outlining to staff what she described as 10 principles that will guide her leadership while condemning what she described as an “America-loathing far left” and “history-erasing far right,” many inside CBS are still trying to decode what that means.

Now, with Friday’s memo, Weiss has made her intentions unmistakable. While characterizing her mandate as a get-to-know-you exercise to ask journalists to self-justify their jobs in writing, she’s positioning herself to audit the newsroom from the inside out, raising fears of terminations for those who do not adhere to her “anti-woke” worldview. Musk demanded “hard-core” dedication from Twitter employees before gutting the company. Weiss seems to be testing who inside CBS will align with her vision for the network.

That should worry the journalists she now leads. The question at CBS is no longer what kind of newsroom she’ll run, but seemingly who will be left to run it with her.