The CBS News war coverage is going exactly as we thought it would. Plus, Gayle King goes ‘all in’ on Weiss, while CNN commentator Scott Jennings sucks up to her.
Good evening, and welcome to this week’s ‘Ragebait.’
Justin Baragona here, bringing you the latest dispatches from Bari World and the right-wing industrial outrage complex. In tonight’s edition, we take a look at how CBS News is covering the Iran war under the direction of Bari Weiss. Plus, CNN’s resident MAGA defender Scott Jennings is driving his colleagues nuts while kissing up to his future boss; Fox is manufacturing consent for another Middle East war; and Gayle King is going “all in” on Bari.
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‘Bari’s Hardline Zionist Wet Dream’
“Buckle up. Propaganda-palooza,” one CBS News staffer told me after the network announced that it had deployed Tony Dokoupil to the Middle East this week to anchor ‘CBS Evening News’ as Donald Trump’s aggressive war of choice with Iran escalated.
The fact of the matter, though, is that editor-in-chief Bari Weiss had made sure that would be the case well before Dokoupil – the pro-Israeli talking head she installed to lead the network’s flagship nightly news broadcast – made his way to Tel Aviv.
“This is Bari’s hardline Zionist wet dream come true,” a CBS News insider snarked to Zeteo.
Representatives for CBS News and Weiss did not respond to requests for comment.
Hours after the US and Israel launched massive strikes on Iran that killed the totalitarian regime’s supreme leader and plunged the region into all-consuming chaos, Weiss – the self-proclaimed “Zionist fanatic” with a very transparent view on Middle Eastern policy – got to work.
Besides tapping Dokoupil to anchor the weekend version of ‘CBS Evening News,’ Weiss also had him host a Saturday night special on the war. That 10pm broadcast included a guest list pulled straight from the pages of The Free Press – Weiss’s anti-woke “heterodox” pro-Israel blog that Paramount chief David Ellison bought for $150 million when he made her network head.
The special saw Dokoupil cheerleading the administration and applauding the lack of American military deaths.
“Even as Iran retaliates tonight, that era of repression may be over. There are no reports of American casualties this hour from Iranian air strikes,” he said on air. “There are, however, celebrations in the streets of Tehran. President Trump told the Iranian people ‘take control of your government.’ That quote, the hour of their freedom is at hand.”
During the broadcast, Dokoupil had a lengthy sitdown with right-wing conspiracy theorist and Islamophobe Douglas Murray, a Free Press columnist whom Weiss calls a “friend.” In fact, Weiss even compared Murray to Elvis Presley in 2024.
Murray being treated by Dokoupil as an expert on Iran also opened up the network to mockery – notably from Mehdi himself – because Murray had previously chastised Joe Rogan and comedian Dave Smith over their opinion on the Israel-Gaza War, sneering that they should stay quiet on the matter since they hadn’t personally been there.
Dokoupil also spoke to Masih Alinejad – who has been targeted by the Iranian regime for assassination and kidnapping. Her appearance came after Alinejad’s remarks on another program, and Weiss’s response to them caused a stir.
“Mr. Mamdani, you are more than welcome to come to one of my safe houses,” Alinejad – a new CBS News contributor who has written for The Free Press – exclaimed about New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani on the CBS News streaming channel on Saturday afternoon.
Weiss quickly followed up by retweeting a clip of Alinejad’s remarks with a fire emoji, prompting one CBS News employee to share a screenshot with me on Saturday evening. “JFC,” the employee stated, noting that other staffers were similarly outraged.
Semafor reported this week that the “tweet quickly ricocheted” around the network, leaving staff “frustrated” over their boss’s “seeming willingness to express her political point of view about the mayor,” which appeared to violate CBS News’s standards on maintaining objectivity.
Two network sources told me that Weiss has been very keen on ramping up content that targets the progressive Muslim mayor, leading CBS News reporter Jared Ochacher to film nearly 20 Instagram videos about Mamdani in the past month. Semafor also reported that Weiss had been more engaged with managing coverage of the lead-up to war and Iranian protests than pretty much anything else since she took over CBS News, something my sources confirmed was the case.
The Saturday night special also included Elliot Ackerman, a Free Press writer who was recently hired by Weiss as an on-air network contributor. Ackerman expressed skepticism about the administration’s strikes and mission, something he expanded on in a later column for The Free Press.
Some staffers were also angered over Dokoupil’s Monday night ‘CBS Evening News’ broadcast from Jordan. Specifically, they took issue with his on-air explanation – retweeted by Weiss – on how the roots of the current Iran war stretch back nearly 50 years, with him insisting the “fuse” was lit by the 1979 American embassy hostage crisis.
“This is the craziest shit I’ve ever seen,” a CBS News reporter told me about the package, noting that this outright ignored the 1953 coup – orchestrated by the UK and American governments – that led to Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh being overthrown and the shah of Iran gaining more power.
Still, while Dokoupil and Weiss continue to take heat both internally and externally, they can pat themselves on the back for being the only broadcast news network airing the nightly news from the Middle East.
‘CBS Evening News’ executive producer Kim Harvey made sure to get Dokoupil sent to the region on Sunday, as Status first reported, resulting in him catching one of the last flights to the Middle East before the airlines canceled service.
Taking advantage of his time in Tel Aviv, Dokoupil filmed a report for Tuesday night’s broadcast, which saw him speaking with residents who had been impacted by Iran’s retaliatory strikes. Will he travel outside of Tel Aviv and speak to Palestinians?
Great Scott!
Of course, Weiss could be overseeing a much larger newsroom in the coming months – and one of her potential future employees is preemptively kissing a little ass.
In case you forgot, Ellison and his mega-billionaire father Larry Ellison – a Trump acolyte who also happens to be the largest private donor to the Israeli military – came out on top in their $111 billion debt-ridden hostile takeover bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent company of CNN.
While much of the CNN staff has made it clear that “NO ONE here wants David Ellison OR Bari Weiss as a boss,” especially considering CBS News’s current MAGA-coded direction and the Ellisons’ promise to Trump to make “sweeping changes” at CNN if they acquired it, the network’s resident Trump defender appears to be the exception.
Reacting to Semafor’s story about Weiss’s newsroom approach on Iran, CNN senior political commentator Scott Jennings gushed over the former New York Times columnist – and made sure to tag her so she saw it.
“The person running a newsroom in touch with where the news is being made, and with half the country that is constantly neglected? sounds like … a good thing, @bariweiss!” Jennings excitedly tweeted.
Former CNN media critic Brian Lowry reacted by sharing a GIF of bread being buttered, while The Guardian’s Jeremy Barr pointed out that Weiss and Jennings will soon be working for the same company.
Sucking up to his potential future boss could also be a way for Jennings to give himself some cover over the literal fake news he peddled to justify Trump’s war strikes. CNN reporters were furious that Jennings had unquestioningly parroted claims from anonymous Trump officials “that credible intelligence indicated Iran planned preemptive missile strikes against US military targets in the region,” and a “failure to act would’ve resulted in mass US casualties.”
Jennings’s assertion, which was spread far and wide within the MAGA world, was soon undercut by CNN’s own reporting – which noted on Sunday that the Pentagon acknowledged that Iran had not planned to strike US forces unless Israel attacked first. Jennings, undeterred, continued to peddle his obviously false claim on his Monday radio show.
Still, even as pro-Trump media figures ridicule Jennings for allowing the administration to use him “like a fool,” it doesn’t appear that Jennings – who recently signed a new deal with CNN at a substantial pay bump – has faced any repercussions from the network brass. Throughout the day on Tuesday, he continuously popped up on CNN programming.
The Trump-Fox Feedback Loop, Iran Edition
While Trump was ringing up every eager reporter he could think of to test out different narratives, timelines, and rationales for the attacks (including chatting it up with MS NOW), the president’s de facto communications arm was hard at work manufacturing consent for the war post hoc.
Having already successfully pushed the president into striking Iran, Fox News’ most hawkish personalities – namely Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, and Brian Kilmeade – were quick to praise the military action while telling the right-wing network’s viewers how necessary the war is to America’s safety.
In fact, it only took a couple of days for Fox to begin waving the “Mission Accomplished” banner and declare victory. “We’ve already won!” Laura Ingraham declared on Monday evening.
Gayle King Is ‘All In’ on Bari Weiss
Rather than announce the news to the CBS newsroom on Wednesday, Weiss and longtime ‘CBS Mornings’ co-host Gayle King “exclusively” revealed to the Wall Street Journal that King had re-signed with the network – months after it was reported she was likely on her way out.
“I am all in,” King declared to the WSJ, while Weiss said she was “thrilled” that King was staying.
King’s retention also comes amid Weiss’s chaotic overhaul of the network. CBS News sources I spoke to said it became obvious that King had curried favor with Weiss in an effort to “stay relevant” and retain her job (and massive salary) weeks ago.
During a CBS News all-hands meeting in January, King passionately defended the neophyte network head amid growing criticism of Weiss’s editorial leadership, which left many staffers “pretty salty.”
“It was naive to think she would stand on principle when that much money was on the line,” a CBS News reporter told me. “A lot of people were disappointed that she didn’t use her position to speak up. Instead, she rolled over for a fat paycheck.”
Another senior CBS News staffer was even more blunt, adding: “Just say you don’t give a shit about the integrity of CBS News, Gayle. I hope the money was worth it.”
It also appears that Weiss is courting right-wing personalities to replace Dokoupil and team up with King and co-host Nate Burleson, with ex-ESPN star turned pro-Trump podcaster Sage Steele reportedly in the running.
CBS News did not respond to a request for comment.
Justin Baragona is Zeteo’s media columnist. He is a former senior media reporter for The Daily Beast & a correspondent for Mediaite.
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