In Focus delivers deeper coverage of the political, cultural, and ideological issues shaping America. Published daily by senior writers and experts, these in-depth pieces go beyond the headlines to give readers the full picture. You can find our full list of In Focus pieces here.It’s amusing to see the legacy media react when a conservative gets hired for a prestigious role, such as a correspondent for 60 Minutes. This was the case with the recent hiring of Ross Douthat, formerly of the New York Times. Poynter‘s Tom Jones wrote that the move “fuels concerns … for those who fear Weiss will push CBS News and even the irreproachable 60 Minutes to the Right.”
Whose concerns and fears, exactly? Weiss also announced that, in addition to Douthat, Norah O’Donnell was also getting a promotion on the news magazine that will launch its 59th season next month. The one-time MSNBC anchor comes from the Left, as most notably evidenced by her co-moderation of the lone vice presidential debate between JD Vance and Tim Walz in 2024. At one point, when Vance challenged an incorrect fact-check by O’Donnell and co-moderator Margaret Brennan, they proceeded to cut off the microphones to avoid being embarrassed by the future vice president any further. And earlier this year, O’Donnell decided to read a portion of a deranged manifesto written by Cole Allen to President Donald Trump, who had been charged with attempting to assassinate him at the White House Correspondents Dinner in April. “Well, I was waiting for you to read that because I knew you would because you’re horrible people,” Trump answered. “Horrible people. Yeah, he did write that. I’m not a rapist. I didn’t rape anybody.”“Do you think he was referring to you?” O’Donnell followed.“I’m not a pedophile. You read that crap from some sick person? I got associated with all … stuff that has nothing to do with me. I was totally exonerated. Your friends on the other side of the plate are the ones that were involved with, let’s say, Epstein or other things. But I said to myself, ‘You know, I’ll do this interview and they’ll probably…’ I read the manifesto. You know, he’s a sick person. But you should be ashamed of yourself reading that because I’m not any of those things.” Apparently, if O’Donnell is promoted by CBS, it’s not controversial at all. But if Douthat is hired, that shows Bari Weiss is trying to turn her news division into a far-Right outlet. The Douthat hire is either “an inspired, out-of-the-box great hire meant to shake life into a long-running news show,” Poynter‘s Jones writes, or it’s “just further proof of a network desperately pushing to the right, even if it means remodeling a show that was already perfectly built.”Perfectly built?This is the same 60 Minutes that infamously edited an interview with Kamala Harris shortly before the 2024 election that showed a rambling word salad as one answer and a relatively more coherent response as a second answer to the same question. CBS, pre-Weiss, then refused to release the full transcript of the interview. Trump sued, citing attempted election interference. CBS eventually settled for $15 million. This image released by CBS News shows Bari Weiss at the CBS News/Politico reception ahead of the White House correspondents dinner in Washington on April 25, 2026. (Mary Kouw/CBS News via AP)
