WGA Tells CBS News Staff to Hold Responses to Bari Weiss Memo Pending More Info

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: msn/The Wrap

11h


The Writers Guild of America East, the union that represents a portion of CBS News staffers, urged its members to hold responses to a memo sent by editor-in-chief Bari Weiss until it gets more information on its purpose, signifying an early tension point between the newly installed editor and the staff she's set to lead.

Weiss on Friday asked staffers to submit a memo by Tuesday outlining "how you spend your working hours -- and, ideally, what you've made (or are making) that you're most proud of." The goal of the email, she said, was to get their views on "what's working; what's broken or substandard; and how we can be better."

"Please be blunt -- it will help me greatly," she wrote. Weiss took hold of CBS News on Monday after David Ellison's Paramount completed its $150 million acquisition of The Free Press, Weiss' "anti-woke" news operation.

"We are aware that Bari Weiss sent an email asking CBS employees to provide information about their jobs and feedback about CBS News. Many of you have expressed concern to us about the purpose of the email, and we share those concerns," it said in a memo to its members, according to Variety. "That is why we sent the company an immediate demand to provide information about the email by Monday. We suggest that you refrain from responding until we are able to share the information that we receive so that you can make an informed decision by the Tuesday deadline."

Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/general/general/wga-tells-tells-cbs-news-staff-to-hold-responses-to-bari-weiss-memo-pending-more-info/ar-AA1Of0iH

[delisen]

1. Sounds like the DOGE demand of federal workers. nt

[tonekat]

8. My first thought exactly!! n/t

[2naSalit]

2. That email...

&t=2s

[Buddyzbuddy]

3. Will you please provide us with information that will justify us firing you?

[Lonestarblue]

4. Or, please provide evidence of your obeisance to Trump and his Project 2025 administration.

Otherwise, start looking for a job.

[Alice B.]

5. This sounds like something my team was asked to do

By our new manager, when I worked for a tech company.
There was a name for it that he used; I can’t remember. He asked us to explain our roles and responsibilities. And he framed it as a way of getting to know the team. We all had to do a lot of things outside the scope of our job descriptions so I had no problem with it. I also lived every day like it could be my last there because that was the environment.

[BumRushDaShow]

7. I have been through many "team-building" exercises throughout my 30+ year federal career

and this type of thing was generally done with "small groups" of people (e.g., specialized functional groups, supervisors, new employees, etc).

The activity was moderated by a 3rd party in most cases, and responses would be formally compiled, assessments were done and released, and follow-up activities were carried out with the group.

But it was NOT an "agency-wide" or "Department-wide" or in this apparent case, "Division-wide" impersonal "email" that most would assume would go right to a circular file (or I suppose in this case given the environment nowadays, would be used to target employees for removal).

I have no idea how CBS breaks down their organization to the lowest level supervisory groups, but that lowest level of "group" should be where this type of thing happens, NOT having someone "parachute in" with Muskrat-like jargon-filled psycho-babble.

[ificandream]

10. Can I ask if you end up being terminated shortly thereafter? Or better, how long did you remain with the company?

[Alice B.]

11. I was given my 30 days notice around that time, actually, but I figured it was coming for other reasons...

I was coming up on two years which seemed to be about the average tenure for people in the US.

My company was San Francisco-based (technically a Mail Drop for the address, lol) and fully remote. One founder was in Orange County and the other in NC. They loved, loved, loved foreign contractors, particularly ones based in Turkey. The new manager however had just emigrated to Canada from India. He used to ask me what I thought of TSF and would make what felt like were provocative comments about what a good businessman TSF is *eyeroll* I wonder what he thinks now.

Anyhoo, they misclassified me as 1099 and I went with it because I was still making more money than I ever had in my life -- less than I was worth but it was still a fortune to me, coming from where I was coming from. Plus, you know the job market, especially when you're a middle-aged woman. I was looking for something else knowing how tenuous this situation was, but just didn't find it fast enough.

I kept all the receipts and spent a year doing the IRS process (from form SS-8 etc to amending my returns) and appealing for unemployment. I ultimately came out with unemployment and a couple grand back in tax refunds just this past June -- feeling super lucky given the chaos in DC. If anyone ever needs a TED talk on worker misclassification, I'm always happy to give it.

I did find a new job after a year of being unemployed; the experience gave me super complex feelings about the topic of the economy during the election.

More than you asked for. Sorry!

[bmichaelh]

6. It could get much worsey

There are reports that the Ellisons may buy Warner Brothers Discovery.

WB Discovery owns CNN.

They could do the same.

[Paladin]

9. "Please be blunt." Yeah, right.

Please be blunt---and make it easier for Bari Weiss to fire your ass and replace you with a no-talent trump sycophant.