Talkin' Bout a Revolution: Bari Weiss moderates the “Has the Sexual Revolution Failed?” debate at the Ace Hotel on Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2023, in Los Angeles. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Welcome to the latest edition of Breaker. If this email has been forwarded, you can subscribe here and send your questions and complaints here. If you have a tip contact the 24/7 Breaker Tip Hotline via text or Signal # 551 655 2343. Anonymity guaranteed!
Bari Weiss finally addressed the troops at CBS News on Tuesday, and she was talking a big game. Weiss says the future of the newsroom will rely on leaning heavily into scoops. In tonight's edition, we reveal the next target of Weiss’ reinvention of the beleaguered network.
Also tonight, we have the name of super-agent Ari Emanuel’s hotly anticipated memoir, NBC’s Cesar Conde lands another board gig, Michael’s draws the media and power players, and Penske Media, with their exceptional catalogue of publications, questions what it means to be “monopolistic” in the media industry.
Finally, it’s Tuesday, which means Hamish McKenzie is back with his latest media industry Hot Sauce. Tonight, his thoughts on the glass ceilings trapping both The Washington Post and TikTok.
Mentioned tonight: Lachlan Murdoch, Steven Rubenstein, Gayle King, Tony Dokoupil, Michael Ovitz, Larry Ellison, David Ellison, Tucker Carlson, Olivia Nuzzi, Ryan Lizza, Emily Bell, Jason Zengerle, Tim Davie, Amanda Meade, Laura Wagner, Scott Nover, Jeremy Barr, Jeff Bezos, Joe Aston, Peter Kafka, Charlie Warzel, Brooke Jaffe, David Shipley, Norm Pearlstine, Allison Gollust, Sean Giancola, Melanie Bromley, Natalie Ravitz, Solange Knowles, and more.
Bari The Lede
(Exclusive.) As CBS News staff waited for Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss to deliver her long-awaited vision for the beleaguered network at a town hall on Tuesday morning, Pharrell Williams’ 2013 hit Happy played ironically in the background.
“It might seem crazy what I am 'bout to say
Sunshine, she's here, you can take a break
I'ma hot air balloon that could go to space, huh
With the air, like I don't care, baby, by the way, huh.”
Inspiring stuff and somewhat prescient as staffers were about to hear what they view as a lot of hot air (they had to sit through one more song first – High Hopes). After an introduction from CBS Mornings host Vladimir Duthiers. It was down to business.
“I need to start by acknowledging that there’s been a lot of noise around me taking this job. I signed the paperwork for The Free Press, left my startup of 60 people, and walked into this newsroom two hours later,” Weiss said, according to an audio recording of the meeting obtained and reviewed by Breaker.
Channelling her best Sir Will Lewis impression (who infamously told Washington Post journalists at a town hall in 2024 that “People are not reading your stuff), Weiss bluntly told staff, “Right now we are not producing a product enough people want.”
Breaker has learned that will mean one of CBS’s biggest shows is about to be “blown up”…
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In Plain Sight
(Exclusive.) The title of podcaster Ari Emanuel’s upcoming memoir is …