Bari Weiss fires CBS News standards chief as first termination of her takeover: Report

New CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss has reportedly fired the former head of the outlet's standards and practices unit, marking the first termination of her new tenure, the New York Post reported Thursday.

Weiss, who previously worked for the New York Times as an opinion writer, was named the new chief of CBS News last week and is expected to bring a more conservative voice to the left-leaning network after building a reputation for being critical of antisemitism and “woke” elites in mainstream media, and being a strong supporter of Israel.

Claudia Milne, who ran the division responsible for the moral, ethical and legal implications of CBS programming since 2021, confirmed her departure in a farewell memo to employees obtained by Variety.  

“We live in complicated times. For our company, for our industry and for our country. And it’s times like this that what we do matters most,” Milne wrote in the memo. “I believe our role as journalists is to hold the powerful to account. We are here to question and challenge our political leaders on behalf of our audiences, Republican or Democrat, liberal or conservative…we must interrogate the social media companies that want to control our attention, the businesses that manage our healthcare and the institutions that shape our education system."

Milne was reportedly on the team that banned writers in 2023 from using the term "transgender" when reporting on the Covenant shooting in Nashville, Tennessee, despite the shooter being transgender. 

She also reportedly blocked a reporter from interviewing Elon Musk in 2023, because the Tesla CEO wanted to do the interview live, the New York Post reported.

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.