In a dramatic shift at CBS News, newly installed editor-in-chief Bari Weiss has staked her vision on elevating “charismatic” voices — and it has stirred a firestorm. The controversial figure suggested that famed lawyer and longtime public figure Alan Dershowitz is precisely the kind of personality CBS needs to engage a broad American audience.
At a recent appearance before a leadership conference, Weiss argued that Dershowitz and right-wing pundit Dana Loesch represented the “center left and center right” and were emblematic of “where the vast majority of Americans actually are.” Her message: mainstream news should stop shrinking away from disagreement or charisma — instead, it should lean into voices who can grab attention while still inhabiting that center band of politics.
New College of Florida’s (NCF) commencement speaker Alan Dershowitz. New College of Florida (NCF) situated on Sarasota’s Bayfront, is a public liberal arts college known for its innovative educational model and emphasis on individualized learning.
The reaction was swift and sardonic. Journalists and commentators piled on the idea that a network aiming to regain trust would spotlight a figure like Dershowitz — not only known for his legal career, but also linked over decades to the Jeffrey Epstein saga. One tech-reporter quipped it was “so funny to take a populist ‘we need to elevate the voice of the common man’ position and then immediately follow it with” Dershowitz.
Weiss didn’t shy away from the criticism. She framed the moment as one of bold re-calibration: to redraw the lines of acceptable debate in America’s culture and politics, to resurrect trust in journalism by blending viewpoints rather than filtering them out. She criticized what she called “moderation theatre” and instead championed genuine collision of ideas.
Still, the optics of linking a network’s future to a figure like Dershowitz — and dismissing other voices, such as on-line influencers or extremes of the political spectrum — raised red flags. Observers pointed out that the debate Weiss cited between Dershowitz and Loesch had drawn only dozens of viewers, undercutting the notion of mass appeal.
In media circles, the maneuver is seen as part strategy and part spectacle. Some applaud Weiss’s willingness to challenge the status quo. Others view it as a gamble rooted in nostalgia rather than innovation — elevating celebrity over substance. Either way, Weiss has made clear: she believes the network’s problem is not irrelevance, but blandness — and charisma is her remedy.
