LEMON DROP | Bari Weiss' CBS Town Hall with Erika Kirk Was A FAILURE!
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Why does Don Lemon say CBS News is 'losing its sense of self' after the Bari Weiss town hall?
Let's talk the media. And I want to talk CBS once again, because I think Walter Cronkite is turning in his grave right now. And I don't say that lightly because what we're watching at CBS News right now, it's not. I don't think you can just say it's a programming misstep or it's a bad weekend experiment. It feels like something more serious than that. Like the network is drifting. Like there's confusion. They don't they don't they can't find their footing like, you know, like a network that doesn't quite know who it's speaking to anymore. And let me I'm just going to say this up front. I've gone through this before. And if they continue down this road, it's not going to work. I don't believe it's going to work.
They're never going to get the conservative Fox News viewers. It's just it doesn't work that way. And it takes a while. In order to do that, you've gotta be all in. Like every part of the day has to be that or it's not going to work. And so when a place like CBS News loses its sense of self, that should worry anyone who still believes journalism matters. Okay, so look, you're looking at the ratings there. Barry Weist Town Hall with Erica Kirk saw ratings plummet as CBS News editor-in-chief debuts on screen. Okay, so, and this is the New York Post. This is a conservative newspaper saying this. So, you know, take that for what it's worth, but... So let's talk about this town hall. CBS News put real weight behind this town hall.
It wasn't just a throwaway. This was positioned as a statement, like a moment, a signal about the future of the network. And so, but here's the thing where I say this is maybe a miracle and they can pull it off. But instead of sparking engagement, it landed with a kind of a hollow thud. Okay? And I don't think there was like outrage. I don't think there was even backlash around it. It was just like people going, I'm not interested. It was just disengagement. And that is the worst. Disengagement is deadly in television. People didn't lean in. They didn't argue about the next morning. They didn't rush to defend it. They simply, they just didn't show up. And you know what? They were just like, I didn't watch that shit.
And so the silence is telling or the silence is yelling everything. CBS News has always been about something I think that is very specific. Remember, it's the Tiffany Network. It's a home of 60 Minutes. you know, one of the longest running and most popular long form news shows ever. Like the Vanguard, like the thing that people look to as an example of what good journalism is. Serious reporting, editorial restraint, letting the journalism lead, not the personalities. But even though they do have good personalities who do it. I mean, look at all the folks who are on there. They became personalities because they were such tough interviewers. So that's the deal. it has long had with its audience. The problem is that when you turn your core audience off, that core audience is who you count on to fight for you in bad times and to be there.
But if you don't deliver for them, if there's no payoff, they're not showing up. So this town hall broke that deal for, I believe, their core viewers. It felt less like journalism and it's more like their positioning. People can see that. Again, I've been through it. Less like reporting and more like a brand exercise. You feel me? And audiences can feel that instantly, even if they can't quite articulate why. People are like, something is different. I don't know what's different. It just seems like, what is going on? Like, where are the people I remember? Like, what is happening here? Why are they allowing these people to, why are they giving them a platform? You've heard it. This is not the first time this has happened.
So it felt like CBS News is trying to audition for an audience that doesn't actually watch CBS News. while assuming its existing audience would just go along with it, go along with the ride? No. That is a very, very dangerous assumption because when viewers feel like a network is no longer speaking to them, they don't complain any more.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
Why does Don Lemon say CBS News is 'losing its sense of self' after the Bari Weiss town hall?
0:13–5:00
2
How did the Bari Weiss–Erica Kirk town hall perform in ratings and audience reaction?
5:00–8:02
3
Why does Don argue the town hall landed with 'disengagement' rather than backlash?
8:02–10:24
4
What historic image and values of CBS does Don say are at risk?
10:24–17:17
5
Why does Don claim programming felt like a 'brand exercise' not journalism?
17:17–18:46