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LIBERAL MEDIA DOWNPLAYS SCANDAL OF DEM VIRGINIA AG HOPEFUL JAY JONES'
TEXTS FANTASIZING MURDER OF GOP LAWMAKER f

rom https://www.foxnews.com/media/bari-weiss-faces-uphill-battle-reshape-cbs-news-network-buries-coverage-growing-virginia-dem-scandal

Bari Weiss faces uphill battle to reshape CBS News as network buries
coverage of growing Virginia Dem scandal
CBS newscasts have yet to address AG hopeful Jay Jones' texts
fantasizing the murder a GOP lawmaker
By Joseph A. Wulfsohn , Brian Flood Fox News
Published October 10, 2025 7:00am EDT | Updated October 10, 2025 7:01am

Democrats called out for refusing to pull support for Jay Jones over
violent texts

Bari Weiss has been tasked with leading CBS News into a modern,
post-partisan era, but old habits die hard as the network continues to
bury a political scandal rocking Virginia during her first week on the job.

On Monday, Weiss was formally named editor-in-chief of CBS News after
her outlet, The Free Press, was acquired by Paramount for $150 million, according to multiple reports. She will be reporting directly to
Paramount's new CEO, David Ellison.

In a memo to CBS News employees, Weiss listed ten "core journalistic
values" she wants practiced, including holding "both American political parties to equal scrutiny." Ellison similarly expressed that he wanted
to tamp down the "partisan division" in his own memo to Paramount staff.

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That message doesnrCOt appear to have resonated with the rank and file, at least not yet. According to show transcripts reviewed by Fox News
Digital, CBS News has yet to provide any on-air coverage of the growing controversies plaguing Jay Jones, the Democratic nominee in Virginia's attorney general race.

BARI WEISS JOINS CBS NEWS AS EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, PARAMOUNT BUYS FREE PRESS
FOR $150 MILLION

Founder of The Free Press Bari Weiss
Bari Weiss was made editor-in-chief of CBS News as part of Paramount's
$150 million purchase of her start-up news outlet The Free Press. (Noam Galai/Getty Images for The Free Press)

Last week, text messages sent by Jones in 2022 to a fellow lawmaker
surfaced showing him fantasizing about giving then-Republican House of Delegates Speaker Todd Gilbert "two bullets to the head," even
suggesting that if Gilbert witnessed the murder of his own children that
it would encourage him to pivot on policy. Jones has since apologized.

Other controversies have emerged, including allegations that Jones had
said if more police were killed it would reduce the shootings of
civilians, which he denied. And after a reckless driving conviction in
2022, Jones served 500 hours of "community service" to his own Political Action Committee.

LIBERAL MEDIA DOWNPLAYS SCANDAL OF DEM VIRGINIA AG HOPEFUL JAY JONES'
TEXTS FANTASIZING MURDER OF GOP LAWMAKER

The political fallout remains unclear. Jones' troubles could impact
Virginia's gubernatorial race as his Democratic ballot running mate
Abigail Spanberger maintains a lead in the polls against her Republican
rival, incumbent Lt. Governor Winsome Earle-Sears. While Jones hasn't
had any Democratic officials call on him to withdraw from the race, he
was forced to cancel a fundraiser.

Neither "CBS Mornings," "CBS Evening News" nor its Sunday program "Face
The Nation" mentioned Jones through Thursday, according to transcripts.
The network did publish an article and referenced the story on its little-watched streaming platform.

placeholder
A CBS News staffer told Fox News Digital that Jones was mentioned in
editorial discussions, but was stumped as to why the network's morning
and evening newscasts avoided the subject.

Jay Jones speaks during a campaign stop
Jay Jones, who is running to become Virginia's attorney general, has
come under fire for a series of text messages calling for the death of political opponents and remarks about police officers. (Maxine
Wallace/The Washington Post/Getty Images)

DePauw University journalism professor Jeffrey McCall says Weiss'
directive may not work on "activist journalists," pointing to the soft coverage of the Jay Jones scandal as an early example.

"Her task is not just about changing isolated news decisions," McCall
told Fox News Digital. "She will have to change the entrenched culture
that led to CBSrCO long-running tendency to lean left."

What stories CBS News chooses to cover and not cover on its airwaves and
how it frames the political news of the day have alienated large swaths
of the country, particularly in the era of Donald Trump.

BARI WEISS BEING NAMED TOP CBS NEWS EDITOR CAUSES LIBERAL MEDIA TO MELTDOWN

Ahead of the 2020 presidential election, "60 Minutes" correspondent
Lesley Stahl famously dismissed Hunter BidenrCOs scandalous laptop during
a contentious exchange with Trump.

"This is '60 Minutes' and we can't put on things that we can't verify,"
Stahl scolded Trump. CBS News ultimately verified the laptop in 2022.

Donald Trump Lesley Stahl 60 Minutes interview
"60 Minutes" correspondent Lesley Stahl famously said the Hunter Biden
laptop couldn't be verified during a tense exchange with President
Donald Trump in the final weeks of the 2020 presidential election. (Screenshots/CBS News)

Fast-forward to the 2024 election, "60 Minutes" was engulfed in a much
bigger controversy, this time involving its handling of an interview
with then-Vice President Kamala Harris. Trump sued CBS News alleging
"election interference" after the network was accused of swapping one of Harris' "word salad" responses ahead of a "60 Minutes" primetime
election special after a preview clip that aired on "Face The Nation"
went viral among her critics.

A raw interview transcript that was later released revealed both sets of comments that aired came from different portions of the same answer.
While CBS News denied wrongdoing, Paramount made a multimillion-dollar settlement in July hoping it would pave the way for its $8 billion
merger with Skydance, which Trump's FCC approved days later. And as part
of the settlement, CBS News updated its policies that would require
programs to release unedited transcripts of interviews with presidential candidates.

PARAMOUNT, CBS FORCED TO PAY EIGHT FIGURES, CHANGE EDITORIAL POLICY IN SETTLEMENT WITH PRESIDENT TRUMP

Harris 60 Minutes
Bill WhitakerrCOs "60 Minutes" interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris was at the center of a high-stakes lawsuit. (Screenshots/CBS News)

That wasn't the only election controversy CBS was involved in. The
network was panned by conservatives for how anchors Norah O'Donnell and Margaret Brennan moderated the vice presidential debate between
then-Ohio Sen. JD Vance and his Democratic rival, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

Despite CBS announcing that it would not allow live fact-checking during
the debate, the moderators repeatedly fact-checked Vance and even cut
off his mic at one point.

CBS DEBATE MODERATORS PUMMELED FOR rCyOBNOXIOUSrCO FACT-CHECKING OF VANCE: rCyA TERRIBLE LOOK'

Brennan, host of "Face The Nation," has particularly irked conservatives
for her combative exchanges with Republicans, including Vance and
Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Her reputation has taken such a hit that
she won this year's "Liberal Hack Tournament," the annual viral
NCAA-style contest run by the Ruthless podcast.

Norah O'Donnell Margaret Brennan
CBS anchors Norah OrCODonnell and Margaret Brennan drew blowback for how
they handled moderating the vice-presidential debate. (Anna
Moneymaker/Getty Images)

CBS News faced internal strife when far-left staffers fumed over "CBS Mornings" co-host Tony Dokoupil for daring to challenge anti-Israel
author Ta-Nehisi Coates in a tense interview last year. Things got so
bad that CBS News leadership at the time scolded the Jewish anchor and
forced him to meet with the networkrCOs in-house Race and Culture Unit following complaints, saying his interview did not meet the companyrCOs "editorial standards" (noteworthy as Weiss and Ellison are both staunch supporters of Israel).

Just last month, CBS News anchor John Dickerson said that the motive
behind the assassination of Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk
remained "elusive," despite reports about the alleged assassin's leftist ideology.

CHARLIE KIRK ASSASSIN'S MOTIVES REMAIN 'ELUSIVE,' CBS NEWS ANCHOR CLAIMS

Weiss' meteoric rise to the top of one of the storied legacy media institutions is leaving liberal journalists incensed. Weiss famously
quit The New York Times in 2020, writing a scathing resignation letter
in which she detailed bullying by colleagues in what she called an
"illiberal environment." In 2022, she launched The Free Press, which has largely been ostracized by the cultural left for its reporting that
challenges DEI, gender ideology and media narratives against Israel in
its war with Hamas.

Bari Weiss
Bari Weiss announced on Monday that she is officially editor-in-chief of
CBS News. (Leigh Vogel/Getty Images for Uber, X and The Free Press)

Staffers who spoke with Fox News Digital are open to "fresh ideas" Weiss
may bring to CBS News, although she still has her detractors at the
network, particularly after her first appearance on the network's
editorial call Tuesday, where she made the rallying cry, "Let's do the
f---ing news."

"I feel like the people that wrote her off probably are further in their corner," one staffer told Fox News Digital. "The people that are open to
her, I think, are still open."

Many of her liberal critics in the media claim Weiss is a "conservative"
who will bend the network's knee to Trump, even though she has openly criticized him on her "Honestly" podcast. Some also believe her
appointment by Ellison was part of an arrangement Paramount made with
Trump to resolve his lawsuit.

CBS News staffers say they're
Paramount CEO David Ellison controls the newly formed company. (Charly Triballeau/AFP via Getty Images)

Status newsletter author Oliver Darcy, who helped lead the charge to
oust CNN CEO Chris Licht when he attempted to reform the liberal cable network, has criticized EllisonrCOs move to put Weiss in charge.

"Ellison vowed not to politicize Paramount rCo yet his first big move at
CBS News is a major bet on Bari Weiss, one of the most polarizing
figures in media," Darcy began his newsletter Wednesday night. "Weiss,
the stridently pro-Israel, proudly anti-'woke' culture warrior, has
built her brand on polarizing political commentary rCo supposedly the type
of material Ellison signaled to reporters that he wishes to run away from."

CBS News did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.

Fox News DigitalrCOs Kristine Parks and Lindsay Kornick contributed to
this report.

Joseph A. Wulfsohn is a media reporter for Fox News Digital. Story tips
can be sent to joseph.wulfsohn@fox.com and on Twitter: @JosephWulfsohn.


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