I don’t usually send out a weekend edition of Too Much TV. But things are going on…My recent coverage of the behind-the-scenes chaos has attracted a great deal of attention, sparking some new paid subscribers, a lot of sharing of the stories and some coverage in the mainstream press, including this nice mention in yesterday’s The Independent:

I’ve also heard from a number of number of people who work at CBS News and at 60 Minutes about their frustrations with the current state of CBS News under new head Bari Weiss. From the beginning, the response to her management style and editorial ambitions has been, to put it mildly, not especially positive:But the Weiss-related texts cover a variety of subjects, including running commentaries during several of her calls:“Y does the public not trust us? Barely, I cant help thinking U have your own answer to that.”“y does she keep asking us what we think. you’re supposed to be the chosen leader. lead.”“I wish she would just say what she’s thinking.””she doesn’t own a tv? Hi, I’m the head of the FAA & i’ve never been on a plane!”“idk, if we suck so bad, y does she keep pushing her FP stories on our air?”“So our redemption with the public involves Jared fucking Kushner?”“it just feels to me as if she’s already making excuses 4 the future when she moves on”As you can imagine, all of this negative press coverage has been an ongoing point of frustration for Weiss and her lieutenants, who have continued to complain about the news reports that suggest she has lost the faith of her staff.That frustration has likely increased following the publication today of a NY Times piece that revealed that when CBS Evening News anchor Tony Dokoupil interviewed Donald Trump last week for the show, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told CBS News that Mr. Trump would “sue” the news outlet if it did not air an interview unedited:Moments after President Trump finished taping a 13-minute interview on Tuesday with the “CBS Evening News” anchor Tony Dokoupil in Michigan, Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, approached Mr. Dokoupil and his colleagues to convey a message from the president.

“He said, ‘Make sure you guys don’t cut the tape, make sure the interview is out in full,’” Ms. Leavitt said in an even tone, according to a recording of the exchange obtained by The New York Times.

“Yeah, we’re doing it, yeah,” Mr. Dokoupil responded.

Ms. Leavitt replied: “He said, ‘If it’s not out in full, we’ll sue your ass off.’”This revelation brings several problems for Ms. Weiss, some of which are not of her making.From a legal standpoint, suing a network for airing an edited interview is nuts. But given that Paramount has already settled one bogus lawsuit brought by Donald Trump, he likely feels the threat is enough to make them cave to whatever he wants, and he likely isn’t wrong. None of that is due to Bari Weiss.But what Weiss is responsible for is airing an interview after a demand like that without some sort of disclosure along the lines of “After the interview was completed, CBS News was told by a spokesperson for the President that he would sure the network unless the interview was aired in full.”And in a better world, CBS News would have pulled the interview entirely and explained that they can’t allow outside parties to dictate the way they cover the news or conduct interviews.But that isn’t what happened, so then we end up with a scenario in which the news of the threat is broken by The New York Times instead of CBS News. Which is not ideal. And entirely the fault of Bari Weiss.Over the past several days I have been speaking with someone at CBS News off-the-record, as they have attempted to explain why the critics of Bari Weiss are incorrect. As well as disloyal.After some negotiation, I convinced this source to provide some thoughts that I could share with the attribution that it comes from “someone at CBS News familiar with the thinking of Bari Weiss.” So read into that what you will. But it is a fascinating look into the thinking that currently runs CBS News:”I have frankly been disappointed by the number of supposedly serious journalists who seem eager to feed other reporters gossip while pretending to be non-partisan and transparent.””We don’t always agree, but I believe that honest and thoughtful conversations can lead to news that people can trust. Arrogant insiders shoveling dirt to score points in the press aren’t helping. They are only insuring that our jobs will be more challenging.””Insisting that we fairly represent all points of view isn’t censorship or attempting to impose a specific worldview on stories. It’s an honest attempt to make us better. I don’t understand why journalists fight that so hard when it is the right thing to do.””Everyone at CBS New wants the same thing: for all us to do our jobs better. That sometimes means being open to specific scripts changes, interview suggestions and guidance. Don’t always assume that you know best when it comes to deciding what stories matter or how they should be told. And most of all, don’t be so petty that you run to the press to whine every time you don’t get your way.”I am no expert. But I predict these comments will not ease the tensions at CBS News.

AND WHAT IS GOING ON AT ‘60 MINUTES’?60 Minutes was preempted last week for the Golden Globes, but was set to return with a new episode tomorrow (January 18th). Typically, the final edit of the show wraps by the Friday before the airdate, so promos can be cut and information on the segments sent out to the press.But it is late on Saturday evening as I write this and so far we have not heard anything about tomorrow’s episode. No promos, no new press release touting the episode.So is this something we should worry about? I’m not sure. I am hearing conflicting stories about what might be going on and I don’t want to speculate publicly until I have more details. We’ll just have to wait until tomorrow night to see what airs.As always, if you have any tips or comments to share confidentially, you can email me at [email protected] or contact me on Signal at allyourscreens.24