Another Conservative Cable News Star Could Be Headed to CBS as New Editor Looks to Shake Up Network
The new top editor of CBS News is making major headlines of her own — and doing it fast.
Bari Weiss, a former editor and writer for The New York Times opinion section who was announced as editor-in-chief of the legacy outlet’s news division, has already been reported as looking to hire big-name conservatives like Fox News’ Bret Baier.
Now, according to a new report, she’s looking to the liberal CNN for its best-known conservative voice.
Semafor, a politics-centric news site, reported Sunday that Scott Jennings, the conservative who clashes regularly with CNN’s routinely leftist staff and contributors, could also be on Weiss’ wish list to revive CBS News’ reputation — and ratings.
Jennings visited Weiss at her new office last week, according to the outlet.
CBS News’ coverage of the 2024 election is probably best known for its flagship program “60 Minutes” engaging in creative editing to make now-former Vice President Kamala Harris look better in an interview than the Democratic nominee actually performed.
It also trails ABC and NBC in viewership, according to the industry-tracking TV Insider.
As the news site Mediaite pointed out, Weiss would face at least one problem with Jennings that she already would face with Baier — if she really is trying to pry him loose from Fox.
Both men are under contract with their current networks.
Baier’s contract with Fox runs into 2028, according to Mediaite. Jennings, on the other hand, said at a Mediaite conference in September that he’d re-signed with CNN at the beginning of this year and that he planned to be at the network “for the next few years.”
So, it might be unlikely that Weiss gets either man, much less both. Still, word of the latest potential poach drew plenty of buzz on social media.
Brilliant move that would devastate the tiny shred of credibility CNN has left. @ScottJenningsKY should make the move. Bari is building something worthy of his talents at CBS
— MJ (@futuredci) October 27, 2025
Do it!! Getting @ScottJenningsKY for @CBSNews would actually make it watchable
— Terry (@TerryinSoCalif) October 27, 2025
I’ll miss the comedic relief of watching his debates with CNN analysts. But if he goes to CBS, I might just give them a look.
— Phillip Jackson (@PEJ1952) October 27, 2025
The irony of all this is that Weiss is no conservative herself. She’s a liberal who simply was not radically leftist enough for what The New York Times had become by 2020.
The fact that she’s turned her ouster from the Gray Lady into a powerful seat, for now at least, in legacy media is a turnaround for the ages, and one that infuriates liberals.
Now, she’s making headlines by reportedly courting conservatives from the competition in cable news, whether from the right in Fox or from the left in CNN.
Whatever differences she brings to CBS News from its current leftward tilt — and they’re likely to be considerable — Weiss has already gotten the country talking about it.
And in the world of television, that’s not a bad way to start.
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