After rocky start, Bari Weiss to cut staff, add commentators at CBS News

[demmiblue]

11. Bari Weiss adds new podcasters and writers as CBS contributors

Zoom in: The new list of contributors includes mostly podcasters and independent writers who will now have access to a large audience across CBS News' platforms, including television.

1. Some of those personalities are existing columnists and contributors for The Free Press, including conservative historian Niall Ferguson and Patrick McGee, who covers the tech industry and China.
2. The new lineup of contributors also features popular science podcasters Andrew Huberman and Peter Attia, prominent New York chef Clare de Boer, best-selling cookbook author Caroline Chambers and journalist Casey Lewis, who writes a Substack focused on Gen-Z and Gen Alpha trends.

Between the lines: Weiss is importing an upstart newsroom model into a legacy media organization, prioritizing independent voices with built-in, loyal followings that could boost the cultural relevance of CBS News.

1. The new lineup will test the newsroom's comfort with contributors who bring a sharper and more opinionated voice than the network has traditionally embraced.
2. Huberman — a Stanford neurobiology professor who hosts a massively popular health podcast and has nearly 8 million followers on Instagram — has faced criticism for oversimplifying and sometimes misrepresenting complex research.
3. Dr. Mark Hyman, another new CBS News contributor, is closely aligned with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the MAHA movement.

https://www.axios.com/2026/01/27/bari-weiss-cbs-contributors