CBS News Is Dead — And They Announced the Time of Death on Air
This one’s open, so feel free to share it anywhere. Quick boost that really helps: ♥ + Restack + a short comment. CBS News Is Dead — And They Announced the Time of Death on AirHow America’s most trusted newsroom completed its MAGA transformation and chose grievance over journalismJanuary 2, 2025There are moments in media history when the mask doesn’t slip — it’s removed deliberately, placed on the table, and labeled “new direction.” This week, CBS News did exactly that. In a brief, chilling declaration that should be replayed in journalism schools as a cautionary tale, the new anchor of CBS Evening News announced that the network would no longer rely on experts, academics, or intellectuals. Instead, CBS would now “take its cues” from what it called the average American — a phrase that has become the most abused euphemism in modern media.
That changes now, they said. And with that, CBS News died — not quietly, not accidentally, but proudly, on schedule, at 6:30 p.m. Eastern.  This Wasn’t a Programming Change. It Was a Confession.This wasn’t about tone. It was a declaration that expertise itself is the enemy, that CBS is now under the ownership of the Trump/Netanyahu Regimes, so “F*** All Y’all.” When a news organization announces — out loud — that it will no longer prioritize people who study, investigate, analyze, or verify reality, it is no longer a news organization. It’s a vibes factory. A grievance translator. A Fox-style feedback loop in which feelings outrank facts, and complexity is treated as corruption. CBS didn’t just echo Fox News’ founding logic. It codified it by installing Netanyahu’s favorite Substack journalist, Bari Weiss, as the head of CBS News, who takes her marching orders from Larry Ellison, the new owner of CBS News, and the biggest donor to Trump/Netanyahu’s war/surveillance machine on planet earth.
Fox built an empire convincing viewers that experts were lying, institutions were rigged, and journalism itself was suspect. CBS just told its audience it agrees — and that it plans to compete on that terrain. That’s not journalism reform. That’s surrender. From Cronkite to the Comment SectionOnce upon a time, CBS News was the gold standard. It was the network of Murrow and Cronkite — a newsroom that believed its job was not to flatter the public, but to inform it. CBS once understood that democracy depends on discomfort, on facts that contradict instincts, on evidence that challenges power. That model required experts — scientists, historians, economists, intelligence analysts — because reality is complicated and journalism is supposed to help people navigate it. The new CBS model does the opposite. It treats complexity as elitism. This is not accidental. It is the Fox doctrine, stripped of shame. Why Hillary’s Emails and “Russia Was a Hoax” Are BackThe most revealing part of CBS’s pivot isn’t just who they’re excluding — it’s what narratives they’re resurrecting. Hillary Clinton’s emails. These aren’t stories. They’re rituals — cultural comfort food for MAGA audiences who need the past endlessly relitigated because the facts never moved in their favor. By reopening settled truths and reframing them as “missed stories,” CBS is doing something far more dangerous than bias: it’s laundering disinformation through legacy credibility. When a network with CBS’s history pretends Russian interference was imaginary, it doesn’t just mislead — it rewrites national memory. That’s not populism. That’s revisionism. The Letter That Tried to Warn UsNone of this surprised the people who actually work there. In recent months, journalists across CBS News — including staff from 60 Minutes — sent a blunt, unprecedented letter to CBS leadership and Bari Weiss. Their message was clear: CBS was being ideologically steered. They weren’t speculating. They were reporting from inside the building. And they were right. Bari Weiss and the Myth of “Neutral Free Speech”Bari Weiss has long positioned herself as a champion of free inquiry — a corrective force against ideological capture. But at CBS, her influence has functioned less like a safeguard and more like a filter.  Stories critical of authoritarianism abroad? Softened. This isn’t neutrality. It’s editorial gravity — a system where certain truths struggle to surface because they complicate the interests of those who own the microphone. Follow the Money — Because It Always Explains the TurnCBS’s transformation didn’t happen in a vacuum. Its new direction aligns perfectly with the interests of:
This is how modern media capture works. Not through memos, but through incentives. Not through censorship, but through selection. What gets airtime. CBS didn’t become Fox overnight. It became something closer to oligarch media — polished, respectable, and carefully aligned with power. “The Average American” Is a Lie Told by ElitesLet’s talk about the most dishonest phrase in the announcement: the average American. There is no average American viewpoint on climate science. That phrase isn’t descriptive — it’s defensive. It’s how billionaires pretend to be populists. When CBS says it’s speaking for “you,” what it really means is it’s speaking around the people who know too much. Why CBS Is Never Coming BackThis is the part people don’t want to hear. CBS is Dead. Once a newsroom teaches its audience to distrust experts, it cannot rebuild credibility. You can’t unring that bell. You can’t later say, “Actually, the scientists were right,” after years of telling viewers they were elites with agendas. CBS didn’t drift. It chose. And that choice permanently reclassified it — not as a flawed institution trying to do journalism, but as a legacy brand chasing relevance by mimicking grievance media. The Obituary CBS Read AloudThis wasn’t about ratings. It was about who gets to define reality. CBS News once believed its job was to challenge power, not comfort it. This week, it told America it no longer believes that
The saddest part? They didn’t even pretend it was tragic. They announced it like a launch. Enjoyed this? Quick ways to help: • Tap the ♥ • Leave a comment (even a quick “reading!”) • Restack to Notes • Forward to a friend who’d like it • Consider upgrading to paid to support the work —Dean COMMENTS: Watching “Uncle Walter” Cronkite break down when he broke into regular programming to announce that President Kennedy had been shot, then deceased is forever etched in my brain, yelling for my grandmother in the kitchen to come quick, wishing my mother was there, seeing a grandfatherly man that I thought looked like he might be related to Walt Disney choking on his words. It is a relief that he is not around to see this ⚰️🪦what is the worst is that this was not a natural death; this is a murder, done to cover up/reframe the previous previous crimes of this administration, and a smoke screen for their ongoing crimes against democracy, humanity, and the planet. They just took CBS out behind the barn and shot it in the head. Was Cosplay Kristi around? They just took CBS out behind the barn and shot it in the head. Was Cosplay Kristi around? The more I hear the more I want to leave this country for good. What does that solve? I am a firm believer that you either stand up for DEMOCRACY & TRUTH .... or you fold your tents. These same miscreants & propagandists are promoting NAZIS in EUROPE! Actually, they took it to the ditch. The oligarchy is taking over everything. I am worried that the “average American” We are so screwed. Too many Americans cannot see beyond the temporary tax cuts and comprehend that the permanent tax cuts are for the rich only. They cannot see that we are burning this planet to satisfy the Foch’s insatiable greed. CBS just became Fox2! Is this the beginning of the end for mainstream media? Will other networks now follow? This is utter madness. |
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