‘Not puff pieces and kid gloves’: why Bari Weiss is hiring British journalists at CBS News | Bari Weiss
Isix years since He publicly resigned from the New York Timesand during her tumultuous eight months as editor-in-chief of one of the United States’ most prestigious television networks, Bari Weiss became known as a media disruptor and a challenger to what she saw as the overly “woke” journalistic consensus.
As Weiss continues to face internal and external opposition to his CBS News leadership, he is turning to figures from British journalism in attempts to combat what he sees as the “groupthink” of the US newsroom.
Earlier this month, the Guardian reported that Weiss’s CBS News channel had hired Trevor Phillips, an influential British broadcaster who has held prominent public offices, as its senior global affairs correspondent. It also recently hired British investigative reporter Josh Boswell from the Daily Mail.
Shortly after Phillips’ appointment at CBS, it was announced that British conservative writer Douglas Murray would write a regular weekly column for the Free Press, the “anti-woke” publication Weiss founded after his departure from the New York Times.
Weiss also spoke to Justin Webb, presenter of the BBC’s flagship news radio show Today, but the pair are understood not to have discussed a specific position at CBS.
It is understood Weiss’ senior executives at CBS News have reached out to other prominent British journalists. A CBS News spokesman declined to comment when asked about Weiss’ interest in British journalists.
But according to many people familiar with his thinking, the hires are no coincidence. Andrew Neil, the former editor of Rupert Murdoch’s Sunday Times newspaper, backing his hiring of Phillips, said he was “looking at a variety of Brits who could bring some diversity of ideas/attitudes to the US media rather than the dominant, predictable Columbia Journalism School monotony. Not a bad idea.”
Another acquaintance said: “He has very good connections in England… He knows the UK very well. He comes here often.”
A key aide to Weiss, CBS News editor-in-chief Charles Forelle, also has experience working in the United Kingdom and is thought to be helpful in the process.
Describing Weiss’ interest in British journalists, a CBS News source said: “They do what Bari is looking for, not puff pieces and kid gloves.”
Many allies have said he has developed a network of like-minded British thinkers who he believes reject the hyper-vigilant, liberal consensus on issues such as Israel and trans issues.
Last summer he hosted a party at the Groucho Club, a familiar media industry haunt in London’s West End. There he lounged on drinks and couches and mingled with a crowd described as “part of the heterodox world”—in other words, figures who opposed what they saw as an awakened consensus.
“He has always been great at communicating,” said one invitee. “In the US, the political divide between left and right in the media is pretty black and white. Things are a little grayer here, as with Trevor and Justin.”
Weiss has also made close British friends in the media in recent years; a Briton was deputy editor of the Free Press; Oliver Wiseman previously worked at the conservative British magazine Spectator.
Sources said he was close to the likes of Murray and JK Rowling’s manager Neil Blair. In 2023, the Free Press published an influential podcast called The Witch Trials of JK Rowling.
Former Conservative cabinet minister and current editor of the Spectator Michael Gove is said to be among his acquaintances, as is current Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch.
The loose network also includes Konstantin Kisin, a libertarian podcaster who argues that former prime minister Rishi Sunak is not British because of his “brown Hindu” background.
Asked why he was hiring British journalists, one ally also pointed out that they were often cheaper than their U.S. counterparts.
Announcing Phillips’ appointment as presenter of Sky News’ flagship political programme, Weiss said his career had been “a masterclass in seeing beyond groupthink”.
Phillips was previously suspended from the Labor Party over alleged Islamophobia and once commented that UK Muslims were “a nation within a nation”. It was later readmitted.
Although Webb writes a column for Rupert Murdoch’s UK newspaper, the Times, he adheres to the BBC’s impartiality rules. In 2024, the complaint against him was partially accepted after he used the expression “trans woman, that is, man” while telling a story. The company’s complaints unit concluded that it “gives the impression of supporting a single point of view in a highly controversial area.”
The appointment of Phillips and several of Weiss’s other UK hires raised questions about his editorial direction at the network.
A CBS News employee who was not authorized to comment said: “If his goal is to push CBS News to the right, including global news, then these steps make sense, because in no other universe does this happen.”
