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The deadline: Tuesday.
Seems harmless, right? Not to the Writers Guild of America East—the union that represents some CBS employees.
Union Panic Mode: ‘Don’t Answer Her’
Instead of encouraging transparency, the union launched an immediate counterattack.
The Guild fired off a memo instructing CBS News staffers to ignore their new boss’s request until management provided more information.
Their list of demands raised every red flag imaginable:
- Will the responses be used for “discipline, discharge or layoffs”?
- Will artificial intelligence be used to review employee answers?
- What happens if someone refuses to reply?
It’s the kind of paranoia that speaks volumes.
CBS News employees had just wrapped up grueling contract negotiations, some lasting over a year. Their deals included AI job protections and guaranteed annual raises—clauses that now look like shields against accountability.
Now, Weiss—who’s been openly critical of “woke” newsroom culture—is asking people to justify their jobs, and the union smells a purge.
Why Weiss Terrifies the Old Guard
Weiss isn’t some random outsider parachuting in. Her media platform, The Free Press, built massive influence by reporting stories mainstream outlets wouldn’t touch. She’s developed deep ties with free-speech advocates and investors like Marc Andreessen and David Sacks.
Her appointment at CBS followed a major shake-up: Paramount merged with Skydance, a deal that reportedly required approval from the Trump administration. Just before that approval, CBS settled Trump’s $16 million defamation suit.
Then came David Ellison—the son of Trump ally Larry Ellison—who installed Weiss at the top. His goal? To make CBS News appeal to “center-left to center-right” Americans, not just coastal progressives.
Weiss has already embarrassed CBS leadership before. The Free Press once published leaked audio of executives scolding anchor Tony Dokoupil for being too tough on race author Ta-Nehisi Coates.
Now she’s inside the building—and the same executives who caved to outrage mobs are sweating.
A Network in Decline Meets a Boss Who’s Had Enough
CBS News has been losing viewers for years. Its flagship shows, CBS Evening News and CBS Mornings, trail far behind Fox, NBC, and ABC.
Ellison didn’t spend $150 million just to keep losing. He brought in Weiss to clean house—and she’s starting with a basic test: prove your worth.
But the Writers Guild’s response shows just how broken things have become. They’re treating an ordinary managerial audit like a corporate coup.
By telling employees to defy their new editor-in-chief, the union is drawing a battle line between accountability and entitlement.
The Real Meaning Behind the Meltdown
This isn’t just about emails or memos—it’s about power.
For years, unions and progressive staffers have held the upper hand in legacy media, shielding themselves with contracts that make it nearly impossible to fire anyone, even for incompetence or bias.
Now, a reformer has walked into the building asking, “What exactly do you do all day?”
And the reaction says it all.
The union’s demand for a list of everyone who got Weiss’s memo makes one thing clear—they’re terrified of who might be on the chopping block.
Any strong leader would want to understand how their team operates. But at CBS News, accountability is apparently a four-letter word.
If you can’t explain what you contribute to your own newsroom, maybe that’s the real story here.
