Bari Weiss Eyes Fox’s Bret Baier to Anchor CBS Evening News: Report
CBS News is reportedly exploring a dramatic shake-up under its new editor-in-chief, Bari Weiss — including the possibility of recruiting Fox News anchor Bret Baier to take over the embattled CBS Evening News.
Weiss, who assumed control of the network’s news division following media executive David Ellison’s acquisition of CBS, has been moving quickly to restructure both staffing and editorial direction. According to internal sources, she has already instructed employees to submit detailed descriptions of their job duties ahead of anticipated layoffs, and has begun personally overseeing the network’s guest booking process. She has even influenced programming decisions, including a planned feature spotlighting her sister, Free Press co-founder Suzy Weiss.
Sources say Weiss has been quietly evaluating candidates for a new anchor to lead CBS’s flagship broadcast — and that Fox’s Bret Baier is among the external names she has floated. Status’ Oliver Darcy reported that Weiss has raised Baier’s name in internal discussions as part of a broader effort to rebrand the network’s on-air identity under Ellison’s ownership.
While current CBS anchors Norah O’Donnell and Tony Dokoupil remain in contention, the outreach suggests a deliberate move to recast the Evening News in a direction distinct from the progressive editorial tone that had dominated in recent years.
However, industry insiders caution that Baier — who is one of Fox News’ most respected Beltway correspondents and reportedly earns more than $14 million annually — re-signed with Fox in 2023, committing him to the network through 2028, making any sudden transition unlikely.
This would not be the first time Weiss attempted to recruit a Fox-contracted personality. Earlier this year, she pushed for former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo — currently under contract as a Fox contributor — to join a CBS panel featuring former Secretaries of State. That effort fell through, and the event proceeded without him.
Inside CBS, reactions to Weiss’s leadership have exposed deep generational and ideological divides.
One newsroom source said the staffers who oppose Weiss tend to fall into two camps: “Really young people who, frankly, might be [more] progressive than they should be, and the really old people who feel protective of a brand that no longer exists anyway.”
The insider noted that some older staffers are still clinging to the Walter Cronkite-era identity — one that has not matched reality, ratings, or audience expectations in decades. Meanwhile, younger staff object to Weiss’s unapologetically pro-Israel views and her criticisms of progressive ideology.
“Everyone in between was like, ‘Yeah let’s try something new,’” the insider said.
Many in the newsroom reportedly acknowledge that Weiss “launched a hyper-successful media company” and possesses a sharp instinct for the current cultural moment — particularly as legacy broadcast networks continue to hemorrhage viewers.
“We probably needed a course correction, and an unwillingness to acknowledge that would lead to perpetual third place,” the insider explained.
“I didn’t share the viewpoint that she was going to come in and butcher everything, and I’ve been right so far,” they continued. “She’s forced us to think in a way that we weren’t doing as much of before. I welcome that.”
They noted that resistance to Weiss mirrors the same stagnation that has crippled broadcast news for years:
“I was never like, ‘Oh my God, she’s going to destroy our brand.’ As [a] third-place network, you would think you’d be wide open to new ideas.”
For a network that has spent years falling behind ABC and NBC, Weiss’s moves signal a gamble — one that may attempt to bring back politically diverse audiences long driven away by progressive monoculture.
And the fact that a Fox News anchor is even being floated shows just how far CBS may be willing to go to regain credibility.