Sophia Tesfaye talks about her recent commentary, “Bari Weiss Brings Trumpism to ’60 Minutes,’” regarding the Ellison family’s CBS “murder” of America’s highest rated and most watched news program; issues related to MAGA friendly billionaires’ takeover of media outlets and Donald Trump’s weaponization of the FCC and other federal agencies to destroy the nation’s free press.
SCOTT HARRIS: I’m very happy to welcome to our program as we get things started. Sophia Tesfaye, a senior writer at salon.com. Sophia just wrote the article for Salon titled, “Bari Weiss Brings Trumpism to ’60 Minutes.'” Sophia, thank you so much for making time to be on our program this evening.
SOPHIA TESFAYE: Yes, I appreciate it. Thanks for having me.
SCOTT HARRIS: Before we talk about your recent article on the demise of “60 Minutes,” the long-running popular CBS News magazine, please tell our audience about the topics you write about at Salon.
SOPHIA TESFAYE: Yeah, I’m focused on the media, specifically right-wing media in the age of Trumpism. I think as we all observed and as you rightly note, progressive voices don’t get fair airing in the corporate media space. But even probably more problematic for our democracy is the domination of right-wing media and how we’ve all just been siloed into more or less echo chambers that perpetuate falsehoods and lies that are extremely detrimental, as we all know. So I’m watching that and how that’s shifting. We have such big, big, big happenings on that front, Bari Weiss and Paramount, the ‘elephants’ being one side of it. I also spend a lot of time focused on traditional right-wing media like Fox News as well as emerging alternative media or content creators. They’re not really journalists, but the Nick Shirleys of the right-wing universe as well. So yeah, watching that space, how the right communicates.
SCOTT HARRIS: All right. Well, thank you for that, Sophia. So in your recent article, again, the title of which is “Bari Weiss Brings Trumpism to ’60 Minutes,'” you summarize the forces that have come together at CBS and in the Trump administration to destroy one of America’s most watched and trusted news programs on the air for nearly 60 years. First, please talk about the latest episode in this very sad drama where “60 Minutes” correspondent Scott Pelley was fired after 22 years on “60 Minutes” and a total of 37 years at CBS.
SOPHIA TESFAYE: Yeah. It’s a dramatic escalation from the new management put in place by the new corporate owners, David Ellison, the son of Oracle billionaire, Larry Ellison. And they are now in charge of Paramount, which owns CBS and then Bari Weiss, who started her career at the Wall Street Journal before moving on to the New York Times editorial page and then leaving in dramatic fashion to start her own outfit, The Free Press and then eventually being plucked from the Free Press to run CBS News without any television broadcast experience. And then so she’s brought in her own management, firing the longtime producer and the … Well, she hasn’t been executive producer for decades, but has been with “60 Minutes”—Tanya Simon, the longtime producer of “60 Minutes” and executive producer for about a year after Bill Owens—who was the longtime producer of the show prior, stepped away with concerns of the new corporate ownership a few months before Bari Weiss was brought on in October of last year.
And so she recently, I think maybe two weeks now, a week ago, brought on Nick Bilton, who also was a New York Times—he was a reporter. She was on the opinion pages, but he was a tech reporter—more recently a Hollywood producer—to take over for Tanya Simon. And also after reportedly doing some heavy editorial managing over Sharyn Alfonsi’s report on CECOT back in December that was held for weeks in order to get on-air quotes from the Trump administration, which were never delivered and then it was obviously downplayed. I mean, this is speculation, but it looks to be downplayed because that report from Sharyn Alfonsi was originally slated to air right after an NFL playoff game, which would have had more eyes on it than when it did eventually air weeks later. And it did not in fact include the on-air comment that Weiss reportedly demanded from the Trump administration.
It was just a basic statement denying all allegations of abuse at that detention center in El Salvador that the Trump administration was sending migrants from the U.S. to. So that was one of the first signs of Bari Weiss’s influence being perhaps nefarious or overly deferential to the Trump administration, which is entirely out of step with the “60 Minutes” brand, which is to diligently investigate and seek to hold power to account and not to give deference in that manner. Alfonsi claims that she … and she says she did at the time put up a fight and was then weeks later, months later, eventually fired by CBS along with Cecilia Vega, another correspondent on the show—and the first Latina correspondent on the show—and a few producers. And so that was the first of the big shakeups. And then to get to answer your question, sorry, in the long run, Scott Pelley then in defense confronted Nick Bilton, the new executive producer in defense of his colleagues and that led to his firing about a few days later, maybe a week later.
And that’s where we are now with Bari Weiss, Nick Bilton and the rest of management who are more or less Bari Weiss’ friends from the New York Times and the Free Press taking over “60 Minutes.” And the remaining correspondence, Leslie Stahl and Bill Whitaker have put out a statement saying—and there are others—put out a statement saying that they will remain with the show, but that they are shaken. Leslie Stahl specifically has said she’s shaken by this entire episode and that the show—which is going into its 59th season this fall—will not be unchanged by this.
The title of my analysis is that Bari Weiss brings Trumpism to “60 Minutes” and it’s her management style in that she has replaced veteran producers. Well, the correspondence haven’t been replaced yet, but the producers have been replaced and at CBS News writ large, she’s brought in people who don’t have experience. So that’s something we’ve seen time and time again in the Trump administration, inexperienced people elevated to top positions where they then do damage to the institutions. And I think that is where Bari Weiss is directing CBS News starting with “60 Minutes.” In fact, starting with CBS Evening News actually to be frank with Tony Dokoupil, but that’s a different subject kind of. But yes.
SCOTT HARRIS: Yeah, same thing. And as you were talking about, yeah, there’s all manner of criticisms of Trump’s Cabinet from Kash Patel, the blogger who was accused of blacking out and drinking too much, to Pam Bondi and a whole range of others at the Trump administration in the second term. Sophia, among other accusations, Scott Pelley says that the new CBS News (Editor-in-Chief) Bari Weiss sent a note to “60 Minutes” Executive Producer Tanya Simon, as you said, who’s also now fired, asking that a report on the ICE agent murder of Renee Goode and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis include false information that bent the truth to fit Donald Trump and Stephen Miller’s false narrative justifying the killing of Goode and Pretti. I thought this was some of the most damaging accusations to come out of this very sad episode of the destruction of CBS News as the flagship news program in the United States.
SOPHIA TESFAYE: Yeah, I think you’re right. I think it’s like probably the first concrete allegation of Weiss’ editorializing in the Trump administration’s favor in a way that’s actually concrete. I mean both Cecilia Vega and Sharyn Alfonsi obviously made allegations, but they didn’t give examples beyond the CECOT example of asking for comment on air. And so yeah, the Scott Pelley allegation saying that Weiss asked that the Trump narrative be repeated that the protesters be covered as he said, I think more violently, in more violent light and that it was presented that Goode was escalating her vehicle towards the officer whose name is escaping me, forgive me. And yes, and so Scott Pelley’s allegations are pretty damning and I think it’s very interesting Bari Weiss was slated to appear at I think a marketing conference in Arizona and she canceled it, which in light of all that’s happening not to address—she also relatedly did not attend the first staff meeting for the show after Pelley was fired.
So she’s not answering for a lot of these drastic, drastic moves that are happening under her watch and I think that’s also indicative of the broader problem of the Trumpism inexperience, right? Like this naif more or less coming in to a complete iconic legacy institution and just wreaking havoc and then not having an explanation for anything. I think that’s what Pelley demanded of Nick Bilton on the first day, someone who reportedly is making twice as much as what Tanya Simon was being paid, but has zero experience producing a television show, let alone an investigative juggernaut like “60 Minutes.”
And so I think Pelley was doing his job, right, like asking the questions, was it civil? And according to Scott Pelley, his bosses, Tom Cibrowski at CBS News, made false allegations against him and he told the New York Times in an interview over the weekend that he was falsely blamed for being physically abusive towards Bilton in the meeting where he confronted him. And so that gives me pause that the bosses at CBS News could potentially be lying to the face of veteran journalists like Scott Pelley about his own actions and attempting to get away with it is just so egregious like, what’s happening there? It’s very concerning. So yeah, I think that allegation of Bari Weiss and the report from “60 Minutes” in Minneapolis is very damning and we’ll see if she ever answers for it.
SCOTT HARRIS: Right. I would say on those accusations, if those accusations are true to falsify the reporting to make the Trump administration look better in the resulting deaths at the hands of ICE agents in Minneapolis, that’s not journalism, that’s propaganda. And that’s such a blot on “60 Minutes'” reputation that has been well earned over nearly 60 years. It’s really shameful. It goes beyond shameful really. It’s a disaster.
We’re speaking with Sophia Tesfaye, a senior writer at salon.com, and we’re talking about her recent article titled, “Bari Weiss Brings Trumpism to ’60 Minutes.'” Sophia, I did want to ask you about how the changes at CBS News and “60 Minutes” that we’ve been talking about relate to Larry Ellison’s takeover of CBS, that was acquired along with Paramount Global in a multi-billion dollar merger with Skydance owned by his son, David. Of course, it’s obvious that the Ellison family is trying to curry favor with the Trump administration to get the green light for another of their acquisitions, which is to take over Warner Brothers Discovery, which owns CNN, the cable news network that Donald Trump rails at almost every other day.
SOPHIA TESFAYE: Yeah. And I think you’re hitting the nail on the head there that it’s this complete capture by the elephants of the media system that Donald Trump consumes outside of Fox News, which is already catering to his whims and tastes. And just to expand that a little bit further for your audience, there’s also TikTok, which Larry Ellison now has part ownership of. Just for instance, another Paramount connection is this Trump birthday party that’s happening on the White House lawn that will be aired on Paramount networks for a fee. So just the intermingling between the Ellisons and Donald Trump is I think the biggest story in our country right now personally. This is my belief because it is so all encompassing in people’s lives and TikTok being the largest platform for people who are telling pollsters now that’s how they’re receiving the most information. It’s soon to overtake Facebook, which is extremely concerning, considering the Ellison ownership and reports of censorship on that platform already.
So yeah, what happens and what could be coming for CNN is very troubling and that’s why what’s watching “60 Minutes” and Bari Weiss’ taking control of CNN is terrifying I think because CNN does not already have fallen to corporate capture repeatedly—is corporate capture. But “60 Minutes” was not, but Donald Trump having CNN and Fox News, even though these are outdated modes—cable news isn’t what it used to be. Fox News is massive on TikTok. Same goes for CNN. And so I think once the Ellisons have that kind of like cross pollination control over the network as well as the social media network, that is just complete—not just corporate capture, but just one family capture—I don’t think something we’ve seen in this country for so long, if ever.
SCOTT HARRIS: Yeah. And I wanted to comment on that because the recently defeated leader of Hungary, Viktor Orban, had successfully captured most of Hungary’s media by having his billionaire buddies take over media outlets that were no longer independent and pumped out propaganda favorable to Viktor Orban. And that seems to be the model, the authoritarian playbook model that Donald Trump and his administration were following almost to the letter. And it continues of course, as we’ve been talking about with the Ellisons and other billionaire owners of media companies. We’re talking about Jeff Bezos and the Washington Post, the Murdoch family, Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, Patrick Soon Shiong at the LA Times, Michael Bloomberg and this goes on and on. But maybe you could comment briefly on Hungary and the authoritarian playbook model of an authoritarian government sidelining an independent media as Donald Trump is clearly trying to do.
SOPHIA TESFAYE: Yes, absolutely. And I think that Hungary—obviously Steve Bannon and the far right have, including Donald Trump have long explicitly stated that that—is a model that they’d like to replicate here. But I think even more, Hungary is a model. And also it’s important to look at what’s happening post-Orban in Hungary and how the new leadership is breaking all of that down and the connections to the actual right-wing media alternative new spaces in the U.S. and the funding. It’s all very a little dark.
But I do want to mention Project 2025 and the Heritage Foundation, for an example, closer to home and the FCC chairman that was appointed by Donald Trump, Brendan Carr was an author of Project 2025. Heritage Foundation has connections to Viktor Orban. So yes, this was explicitly laid out in their playbook that was Project 2025 and is now being implemented by the authors of Project 2025.
Carr at the FCC has gone after Jimmy Kimmel, has gone after The View, has gone after Disney writ large—all for offending Donald Trump’s sensibilities more or less. So yeah, this is at this point extremely explicit. It’s very, very hard to report on this as though they … the actors themselves are not trying to hide it, is what I like to say. And so trying to report on this as if these are neutral actions is almost—it’s getting impossible. This is very nefarious and very apparent.
SCOTT HARRIS: Well, we’re almost out of time, Sophia, and I did want to ask you about your views on a regulatory antidote to the concentration of media ownership that we’ve seen long before Donald Trump, but certainly getting a lot worse right now. In an effort to protect free speech and a free press, what kinds of regulations do you think we need if we have a free and fair election this November, which is in doubt, given Donald Trump’s threat to nationalize the elections and have the Republicans and himself write the rules. But if the Democrats take over, what kind of regulatory action do we need to protect the free press?
SOPHIA TESFAYE: That’s a really great question. And I think that’s something I want to give a lot more thought, but I think one of the first things they can do because regulatory is going to take time, right? But oversight is immediate and I would love to see some people dragged in and made to hold to account for some of their actions and FCC being wiped of Brendan Carr’s happenings. Making sure the people who need to be seated in the agencies are seated. A lot of this is not having everyone in place at the time that needs to be in place. And I think the larger call is to people who want to protect democracy, the money has to be there. As you know, operating independent media, the money is not there on one side and that makes sense, right? Corporations are going to look out for their own interests; billionaires look out for themselves.
And this is not a call to the audience and small donors, but this is a call to people who actually want to preserve … billionaires themselves or money that does need to preserve democracy has to be there. And I don’t know what funding mechanisms need to be reached, but that is where I think everything is lacking. What breaks down is like ultimately this will be, I think in my mind, a competition for eyeballs, right? This is all going to move to social media. Independent creators is the name of the game in the future and you can’t really regulate individuals in that same manner. But what you can do is outcompete them and present like “60 Minutes” has shown and done for 60 years that a superior product will win out. Even if it does have a football lead in on Sunday night, it’s the product that matters and that requires resources and money and a commitment.
And if CBS dries out and bleeds out “60 Minutes,” then those people have to be absorbed somewhere else. That talent needs to be lifted up. Investigative reporting must be supported, I think. And if that requires public funding, then maybe Democrats can make that happen. But the regulatory landscape, I’d have to do a little bit more to see what is actually possible and feasible with the politics that we currently have, unfortunately.
SCOTT HARRIS: Well said. Yeah. I think all of what you said is really important, a short- and long-term battle here to preserve free speech. And on a smaller scale, we don’t have time now, but ProPublica is a model that seems at least in some ways hopeful.
SOPHIA TESFAYE: Yes, indeed.
SCOTT HARRIS: So we can look to that in terms of investigative journalism. Sophia, thank you so much for spending time with us and talking about your article. Again, the title of which is “Bari Weiss Brings Trumpism to ’60 Minutes'” and I believe that you can find the article at salon.com. Sophie, I don’t know if you have other websites you’d like to refer us to, things that you’re writing and projects you have.
SOPHIA TESFAYE: That’s salon.com. Thank you so much.
SCOTT HARRIS: All right, good talking with you. Let’s stay in touch and I’ll be checking out your Salon stories and I’m sure our listeners will as well. Thank you.
SOPHIA TESFAYE: Thanks again.
SCOTT HARRIS: You take care. Bye-bye. That’s Sophia Tesfaye, senior writer at salon.com. This is Counterpoint. My name is Scott Harris. Please do stay tuned. Lots more coming up.
Subscribe to our Weekly Summary
