Connie Chung Critiques CBS News Amid Ownership Changes

Connie Chung, a veteran journalist formerly with CBS News, expressed her concerns about the network during an interview broadcast on Thursday. She pointed fingers at “greedy” ownership for the decline of what she referred to as Tiffany Networks.

Chung began her career as a correspondent for CBS Evening News alongside Walter Cronkite in the early 1970s, later transitioning to local news. She returned to CBS in 1989 and co-anchored the “CBS Evening News” with Dan Rather starting in 1993, making history as the first Asian American network anchor. Recently, she joined Pablo Torre’s podcast, “Finds Out,” where she was asked about the impact of new CEO David Ellison on CBS.

“We’re not. I mean, we can’t. The news paradigm has completely changed and we have so many opinions that the truth no longer has value,” Chung remarked.

Chung further lamented the current situation of CBS, stating, “I can’t find any good old-fashioned facts. That bothers me so much.” She drew a stark comparison between her experience at CBS and the current day, attributing the organization’s changes to ownership by Shari Redstone and David Ellison, whose agenda, she believes, has harmed CBS.

This year, Shari Redstone, the former controlling shareholder of Paramount, left the company following a successful merger with Skydance Media. The new Paramount Skydance Company is now led by Mr. Ellison, who has appointed Bari Weiss to manage CBS News.

“They hired this guy. I don’t know what to call Bari Weiss, I just don’t know,” Chung commented, expressing her uncertainty about Weiss’s appointment. Meanwhile, Chung’s husband, Maury Povich, described her recent “60 Minutes” interview with President Donald Trump as “decent.”

Bari Weiss, known for leaving the New York Times in 2020 amid reported bullying from colleagues, launched a newsletter called Common Sense in 2021, rebranding it as Free Press in 2022, which eventually transformed into a media company. Following the acquisition of Paramount, Ellison quickly brought Weiss on board to outline the editorial direction for CBS News.

Chung lamented, “When I worked at CBS, it was owned by William Paley, and he really tried to make sure the news department was autonomous and didn’t have to worry about the bottom line.” Her words reflect a sense of nostalgia for an era when journalistic integrity seemed prioritized over profit.

In a somewhat pointed critique, Torre noted that the current CBS leadership appears to be “cosplaying” as genuine journalists. CBS News has not yet provided a comment in response to Chung’s remarks.