A private plane and ‘Bari pitches’ including jet-skiing with DJ Khaled: Inside Weiss’ chaotic ‘CBS Evening News’ Reboot

As part of a promotional rollout ahead of taking up the legendary CBS Evening News anchor chair, Tony Dokoupil posted a video message this week where he claimed that legacy media has ignored the views of the “average American.”

Meanwhile, CBS News’ editor-in-chief Bari Weiss is scoping out a private jet to facilitate a multi-million dollar tour of the country for the relaunched CBS Evening News.

The co-host of CBS Mornings since 2019, Dokoupil was officially named the new face of CBS Evening News last month, replacing the short-lived co-anchor team of John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois. His tenure is set to begin Monday. Dokoupil’s promotion came after Weiss failed to poach a big name from another network to headline the ratings-challenged nightly news program.

In an effort to make a splash and gain some publicity for his debut, the network is sending Dokoupil out on a 10-city “Live From America” cross-country kickoff tour during his first two weeks in the chair. Throughout his swing through the nation, CBS Evening News will broadcast from cities such as Miami, Dallas, Detroit, Cincinnati before wrapping things up in Pittsburgh.

According to three sources with knowledge of the matter, Weiss is planning on chartering a private plane to fly the team to each location for the “Live From America” tour this month, taking Dokoupil and CBS Evening News executive producer Kim Harvey on the flights.

A source familiar with the planning told The Independent that Weiss was planning to only attend the kickoff and final stop of the tour.

The “Live From America” tour has since been postponed and Dokoupil is debuting Saturday night from San Francisco after the U.S. military intervention in Venezuela.

The increased involvement from Weiss on the CBS Evening News reboot in recent days has raised eyebrows over her desire to be on location for each telecast.

That potential additional expense comes after the news network laid off roughly 100 employees and is preparing for more crippling cost cuts from owner David Ellison and Paramount. It also seems to fly in the face of Dokoupil’s anti-elite mission statement for the show, according to sources who spoke to The Independent.

“Nothing says ‘meeting Americans where they are’ by flying around the country on a private jet costing millions of dollars,” one network staffer said.

“And if her security detail is such a huge concern, why is she going? She could watch from the control room or on an actual TV like everyone else,” the source added. “Instead CBS News has to foot the bill for her five security guards, private jet, and more guards with heavy weapons. Does she not understand how much journalism could be made with the money we’re instead spending on perks for her?”

As Weiss has continued to propose last-minute changes to the logistics for the “Live From America” tour for the show, which has included her own pitches and demands for location changes, staffers on the show have grown increasingly concerned that the relaunch will be a “car crash.” The plummeting morale on the show, according to sources, has landed at the feet of Harvey.

“She is a yes person that is not just drinking the Bari Kool-Aid, but like injecting it in her veins, because that’s how she survives,” one network insider noted.

The potential booking of expensive charters for the 10-day tour of American cities – which sources said could cost as much as $2 million in total (in reality it was a small fraction of the price) – comes as Weiss has caused behind-the-scenes turmoil at the show with last-minute logistical changes for the tour. This has included requests to switch some of the outdoor locations to indoors for her own personal safety.

This latest flareup within CBS News comes less than two weeks after Weiss came under fire for the 11th-hour spike of a 60 Minutes story that was critical of President Donald Trump’s administration, sparking a possible “revolt” among the show’s staff.

Since her arrival at the network three months ago, the self-described “radical centrist” – with minimal broadcast news experience – Weiss has drawn criticism from staff and media observers alike over many of her editorial decisions, which many have claimed is part of the new corporate ownership’s efforts to push CBS News in a “MAGA-friendly” direction.

According to CBS News insiders, who spoke to The Independent, Weiss – who is currently planning to be on location for each broadcast of the CBS Evening News relaunch tour – has requested additional security for the telecasts, including heavily-armed guards.

A veteran media executive explained to The Independent that it would not appear to be uncommon for a broadcast network to charter a private plane for one of its primetime news anchors and upper-end management to fly to a news broadcast, especially as part of a promotional tour that involves a number of different cities across the country in a short period of time. In fact, many news organizations have rules in place dictating which talent and leadership figures are entitled to chartered flights or first-class accommodations.

At the same time, production staffers on the show have had to scramble over the holidays to book different locations for the 10-city tour while network producers are being tasked with hand-selecting audience members to be in attendance.

Amid the rush to finalize the new logistics, sources said, Weiss came back on Christmas Eve and “blew it up” by adding specific locations for individual cities that she wanted to film at – which apparently includes places that aren’t fully associated with the areas they are hoping to represent. According to network sources, some of the locations Weiss has requested include restaurants that appeal to tourists and upscale private schools.

Representatives for CBS News and Weiss did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Network staffers told The Independent that “morale is really bad” at CBS Evening News and was made worse by a production meeting on December 30, where Harvey made it clear to the show’s staff that “this is all about Tony and Bari.”

A source in the room refuted that statement was made by Harvey and emphasized her leadership in the editorial direction of the relaunched broadcast.

“This really feels like the end of CBS Evening News,” one network staffer said. ”Honestly, it’s so depressing.”

On a CBS Evening News production call sheet, shared with The Independent, the segments pitched for Dokoupil’s first stop in Miami this Monday, January 5, include a discussion with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on the state’s school phone ban, a piece on the “loss of trust” in the media, and why Miami’s Venezuelan population has turned on Trump amid the administration’s mass deportations.

The show is also planning on light and fun segments known as “bon bons” that will be spotlighted on social media. In a dizzying array of options, Dokoupil will either play soccer with Inter Miami CF co-owner David Beckham; ask locals if they call it the “Gulf of America” or “Gulf of Mexico,” after the Trump administration’s name change; party at one of the city’s exclusive nightclubs (either Club Space or LIV) or join a boat party that will see the anchor jet skiing with rapper DJ Khaled.

The editorial plans for Miami and the other cities are still in flux and certain planned segments could still change or be removed altogether.

The production sheet also lists planned segments for Minneapolis on January 13, and specifically outlines “Bari Pitches,” which would spotlight “characters” such as Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, former Democratic Sen. Al Franken and ex-Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura, as well as stories on health care and the Mayo Clinic.

As of publication, the “Minnesota episode”/Jan. 13 show will have a lead segment on the “Minnesota Fraud Scandal,” which centers on the yearslong Justice Department investigation of multimillion dollar fraud schemes targeting federal assistance programs. The story has blown up in conservative media in recent days due to the number of Somali Americans charged in the probe and a right-wing YouTuber’s viral video of daycare centers that made unverified claims of fraud.

It is also planned to ask Frey “why doesn’t rent control work,” referring to the Democratic mayor’s longstanding opposition to rent control policies while twin city St. Paul has enacted a rent stabilization ordinance, and a segment on political violence focusing on the recent assassinations of Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark Hortman.

In a January 14 broadcast from Chicago, according to the call sheet, the main focus is planned to be on a “Bari Pitch” to bring on former President Barack Obama and former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel on to discuss “how the Dems lost touch and how to regain the working class trust.”

The other story ideas include Dokoupil riding the L Train with Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and asking him about the racial life expectancy gap in Chicago; a piece on crime rates falling in the Second City “but do residents feel safer,” and another “Bari Pitch” on the city’s “abysmal schools.”

Network staffers have also questioned the marketing and promotional strategy ahead of Dokoupil’s Monday debut. This past Wednesday, the network posted a video on its social media accounts of the anchor approaching random travelers at Grand Central Station in New York and asking if they knew how to pronounce his last name.

“Quite the humiliating ritual,” one CBS News employee said. “This is just embarrassing. Bari went from wanting Anderson Cooper to sending her handpicked Evening News anchor — who has no name recognition — to do man-on-the-street interviews about the fact that he has no name recognition? Make it make sense.”

Weiss has reportedly been engaged in efforts to hire a high-profile personality from a rival network to lead the latest reboot of the perennially third-place CBS Evening News, which included her approaching CNN anchor Anderson Cooper and Fox News chief political anchor Bret Baier. Cooper signed a contract extension with CNN last month, while Baier is locked into a long-term contract with the Rupert Murdoch-owned conservative cable giant.

While other insiders and staffers also called the video an “embarrassment,” Dokoupil did get public plaudits from at least one CBS colleague for his New Year’s Day mission statement about looking to restore trust in broadcast news.

“As long as I sit in this chair: you come first. Not advertisers. Not politicians. Not corporate interests. And, yes, that does include the corporate owners of CBS. I report for you,” Dokoupil said in his promo, pledging to remain independent from Paramount CEO David Ellison. Weiss, who was hired as CBS News editor-in-chief in October by Ellison after he bought her online publication The Free Press for a reported $150 million, reports to him directly.

“On too many stories the press missed the story. Because we’ve taken into account the perspective of advocates and not the average American. Or we put too much weight in the analysis of academics or elites, and not enough on you,” he added.

“Outstanding statement to start the New Year from @tonydokoupil. The new @CBSEveningNews begins January 5. Please watch,” CBS News legal correspondent Jan Crawford tweeted in response.

Crawford was one of those who vehemently defended Dokoupil in October 2024 after he was reprimanded by CBS News management for his combative interview with author Ta-Nehisi Coates over Israel and Palestine.

Dokoupil has been a favorite of Weiss’ since well before she was tapped by Ellison to lead the CBS newsroom this past fall. Weiss, who describes herself as a “Zionist fanatic,” published several articles in her “anti-woke” Substack site, The Free Press, admonishing the network for scolding Dokoupil for his Coates interview.

Weiss promoting Dokoupil to replace co-anchors Maurice DuBois and John Dickerson and lead the storied evening news broadcast once chaired by Walter Cronkite and Dan Rather was not well received by some staffers, who groused that he was a “mediocre straight white man” who only got the job because his views align with Weiss’ pro-Israel stance.

The latest behind-the-scenes drama at CBS Evening News follows the uproar sparked by Weiss after she spiked a 60 Minutes segment on the Trump administration deporting Venezuelan migrants to the notoriously violent El Salvadoran prison CECOT.

Weiss’ decision, which she doubled down on during editorial meetings and a Christmas Eve staff email, could prompt a “revolt” among the show’s staff, sources told The Independent. The 60 Minutes reporter behind that segment decried the move as “political,” seemingly referencing the president’s continued anger at the program and Ellison’s efforts to gain Trump’s approval for his hostile takeover bid of Warner Bros. Discovery.

Weiss has let it be known how much personal attention she is giving to the CBS Evening News reboot in an email to Hollywood superstar George Clooney just before the new year.

After Clooney, who directed and acted in both the film and Broadway play about CBS News legend Edward R. Murrow, blasted Weiss for “dismantling” the news network in a recent interview. A day later, she fired back by referencing the actor’s new French citizenship, and urging him to join her for a tour of the newsroom.

“This is an open invitation to visit the CBS Broadcast Center, where I’m spending the holidays working to relaunch the Evening News with my colleagues. Tune in January 5,” she wrote the Good Night, and Good Luck star in an email that was later shared with The New York Post.

“The George Clooney thing is quite embarrassing,” a CBS News insider said about the email, pointing out that Clooney also played another legendary CBS figure. “Why are you picking a fight with this guy? Why are you trying to clap back at him? Like, this guy played Fred Friendly!”

On Friday afternoon, CBS Evening News’ official X account published a multi-tweet thread declaring that the program has rid itself of its 38-page handbook and would instead just adhere to “5 simple values,” with one of those values being unapologetic American patriotism.

“We love America,” the fourth CBS Evening News value reads. “And we make no apologies for saying so. Our foundational values of liberty, equality and the rule of law make us the last best hope on Earth. We also believe in Franklin’s famous line about America as a republic — if we can keep it. We aim to do our part every night: One new way to think about our show is as a daily conversation about exactly where we are as a country and where we are going.”

At the same time, it would also appear that the “Inside CECOT” segment remains in limbo at 60 Minutes. Based on the program’s listings that were sent out on Friday evening, the story is not set to air this coming Sunday — despite Weiss’ declared intention to run an updated version based on her suggested edits.