EXCLUSIVE: Bari Weiss‘ interest in British journalists extends beyond CBS News‘ surprise hire of Sky News presenter Trevor Phillips, according to UK industry sources.
Weiss has spent time in London in recent months, where she has met with other presenters as she considers CBS News and The Free Press’ operations outside of the U.S.
Deadline hears that Weiss has had lunch with Justin Webb, the longtime BBC journalist, who hosts Radio 4’s Today show and the Americast podcast.
Although no specific job was on the table for Webb, sources said Weiss has expressed an interest in the UK market and is keen to meet with journalists she considers free thinkers.
CBS News did not respond to a request for comment.
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Webb is bound by the BBC’s strict impartiality rules, though he has had editorial complaints upheld against him on trans rights matters, including a 2023 incident in which he said “trans women, in other words, males” on Radio 4. He is also a columnist for Rupert Murdoch’s The Times of London.
“Trevor may be the first of several UK hires,” speculated one person after Weiss poached Phillips to become CBS News’ senior global affairs correspondent. A second UK source added: “Trevor Phillips fits right into her vision.”
Announcing Phillips’ hire last week, Weiss said he “cuts through the noise.” She added: “His decades-long career is a masterclass in seeing beyond groupthink and pursuing the truth.”
The Free Press, which was acquired by Paramount Skydance last year, has also recently signed Douglas Murray, a New York Post columnist and associate editor of The Spectator.
BBC News Partnership
Weiss’ divisive tenure at CBS News has been a source of fascination in the UK, where there has been interest in her gutting of 60 Minutes and her perceived kowtowing to Donald Trump’s administration.
This is in no small part because CBS News has a partnership with BBC News. The agreement was signed in 2017, but there is a view that Weiss’ agenda comes into conflict with the BBC’s duty to impartiality.
BBC insiders said the partnership is largely focused on “boring logistics,” including the sharing of footage and behind-the-scenes resources, though the BBC News website often cites CBS as the corporation’s “U.S. news partner.”
One experienced BBC journalist said there was “nervousness” about the partnership, but others are less concerned. A former BBC News executive said: “The political views of the head of a network are not as relevant as the actual delivery. So the BBC needs to be vigilant about impartiality and objectivity in any of its partners.”
A BBC spokesperson said: “BBC News is editorially independent and everything we broadcast must accord with our own publicly available editorial standards; this partnership, one of many we have around the world with other broadcasters, is about sharing news content, including video footage.”
