At last, a conservative news aggregator that does not bow to the woke right.
In this American Spectator article, Josh Hammer argues that the recent CBS News upheaval signals a broader reckoning for legacy media institutions that embraced activist journalism and lost public trust.
- Hammer opens with the 2024 CBS interview in which Tony Dokoupil challenged Ta-Nehisi Coates over his framing of Israel and Hamas, arguing that CBS punished Dokoupil for asking tough but legitimate questions.
- He says the network’s internal reaction, including complaints about Dokoupil’s “tone,” “phrasing,” and “body language,” exposed a newsroom culture more interested in enforcing ideological boundaries than pursuing honest journalism.
- The article frames Skydance’s acquisition of Paramount and David Ellison’s decision to install Bari Weiss as CBS News editor-in-chief as a major turning point for the network.
- Hammer says Weiss’s arrival created immediate backlash because she represents a threat to entrenched newsroom assumptions, particularly at institutions accustomed to left-leaning consensus.
- He highlights the reported departures and firings at 60 Minutes, including Scott Pelley’s ouster after accusing Weiss of trying to “murder” the program, as evidence that CBS leadership is serious about changing the culture.
- The piece ties the shakeup to CBS’s prior credibility problems, including Trump’s lawsuit over the editing of a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris and Paramount’s eventual settlement.
- Hammer argues CBS is not an isolated case, pointing to Jeff Bezos’ changes at The Washington Post opinion section and a broader shift among some elite outlets toward correcting leftward imbalance.
- He says the reason is obvious: Americans’ trust in national media has collapsed, partly because establishment outlets openly disdain Trump voters and partly because social media, YouTube, Substack, and citizen journalists now offer serious competition.
- The article concludes that the mainstream press is not necessarily dying, but it may be forced to become more fair, balanced, and intellectually honest if it wants to survive.
Read the full story:
https://spectator.org/cbs-news-shakeup-and-the-future-of-the-mainstream-press/
