Paramount Skydance completed its Warner Bros. Discovery merger, uniting CBS News and CNN

What Weiss told the newsroom

Weiss addressed staff at CBS News' 9 a.m. editorial meeting and in a memo obtained by TheWrap. "The truth is, there is a lot that we still don't know," she said. She described it as "a process that's going to unfold over time". She told the newsroom to keep "delivering scoops, exclusives, revelatory journalism that you can't get anywhere else". CBS News president Tom Cibrowski picked up the theme, telling employees to "double down" on their work as the corporate transition began.

For viewers, the practical question is what happens to two newsrooms that competed for the same audiences and now share an owner. Neither has said how they will coexist. A court-approved board of journalists will monitor editorial independence at both networks, a condition attached to the settlement that cleared the deal.

Mark Thompson will stay in charge of CNN. Weiss continues to lead CBS News, so the two organisations keep separate editorial leadership for now.

A judge, a board and a $110 billion deal

A federal judge approved the settlement on Wednesday 30 September 2026. At issue was Paramount Skydance's $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, which a dozen state attorneys general had tried to block. The deal had been held up for months over antitrust concerns before that approval.

Weiss is not expected to have a role at CNN once the merger is complete, people familiar with David Ellison's thinking told The Wall Street Journal. Ellison asked Thompson, CNN's chief executive, to stay on.

A year of departures at CBS News

Weiss told colleagues early in her tenure that she wanted to "blow this up," Fortune reported.

Fortune reported on 12 June 2026 that 60 Minutes journalist Scott Pelley had been ousted the previous week. He had clashed with Nick Bilton, the executive producer Weiss had just hired to lead the programme. Pelley questioned whether Bilton had adequate credentials to run the show. Bilton is a tech journalist with no broadcast news experience. CBS News told CNN that Pelley's claims were not credible and that there is no political interference at the news organisation.

60 Minutes remains America's most-watched television news programme.

In May 2026, executive producer Tanya Simon, her deputy Draggan Mihailovich and correspondents Cecilia Vega and Sharyn Alfonsi were ousted in a single day. Staff dubbed it "Black Thursday". Weiss also pulled a 60 Minutes segment about Venezuelan migrants sent by the Trump administration to CECOT, an El Salvadoran prison accused of inhumane conditions. It aired nearly one month later. Fortune reported that some staff have accused Weiss of editorial meddling that favours the Trump administration, accusations she has rejected.

The $150 million bet behind the appointment

Paramount confirmed in October 2025 that Weiss would become editor-in-chief of CBS News while the company acquired The Free Press, in a deal reportedly worth $150m. The Free Press had 1.5 million subscribers at the time. More than 170,000 of them paid. That is a fraction of the audience for CBS News' most popular shows. David Ellison said the appointment was part of an effort to make CBS the "most-trusted name in news".

CBS News had about 1,200 employees, against around 60 at The Free Press. One longtime media executive told The New Yorker the purchase was, in effect, "the cost to get it to go through" the Paramount acquisition.

Weiss had no broadcasting experience when she arrived. Cibrowski, a veteran broadcast executive, stayed on as her partner.

What happens next

CBS News staff were due to hear from company leadership at a town hall later on Tuesday 6 October. Weiss gave no timetable. Thompson's new CNN contract remains under discussion, with terms not yet reached.