Media Reporters Post Bari Weiss Comments in Real-Time at CBS Town Hall — Even as Gayle King Warns Against Leaking

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That didn’t take long.

CBS star Gayle King warned colleagues about leaking to other media outlets during an internal CBS town hall on Tuesday. How do we know that? Because her comments were immediately leaked.

New York Times media reporter Ben Mullin posted about King calling out would-be leakers.

“I’ll be curious to see how long it takes for this to get out,” King said, according to Mullin. “‘Cause it’ll be somebody in this room.”

Mullin wasn’t the only reporter getting the dirt from the meeting spearheaded by new CBS News boss Bari Weiss, though.

While Weiss was telling staffers that their news does not appeal to most Americans and while King was chiding her coworkers, several media reporters were posting about the town hall as it was happening.

That includes CNN’s Brian Stelter, who shared Weiss’s full remarks on X.

“We are not producing a product that enough people want,” Weiss told staffers.

She also lamented that the American public does not trust her outlet or other mainstream outlets. That claim is supported by polling, with Gallup finding trust in the mainstream press is at an all-time low.

Variety’s Brian Steinberg noted her prepared comments at the outset did not really constitute a leak because CBS sent them to several reporters.

Semafor media editor Maxwell Tani was among those who got his hands on her full remarks as well and shared them to X. But he also posted some of Weiss’s comments as the town hall was going down, including her telling reporters they need to “create the wave and then ride it.”

Puck senior correspondent Dylan Byers posted about the meeting as it was happening too. He said Weiss pointed to the outlet’s “waning audience as justification for change,” similar to Washington Post publisher Will Lewis.

The Guardian’s Jeremy Barr added to what Mullin reported about King. Barr reported King referenced the heavy criticism Weiss and CBS have faced from other media pundits in recent months, after Weiss was named the new head of CBS News.

“I think we’ve all been walking around with gasoline on our pants. We’ve had a lot of incoming,” King said, according to Barr.

She made those comments a week after it was reported Weiss is looking to get rid of King and her $15 million salary.

Barr also reported the song “High Hopes” played at the beginning and end of the event; we’ll assume it was the Frank Sinatra version and not the Panic… at the Disco! version. (Or the Bruce Springsteen version.)

Zeteo News reporter Prem Thakker posted Weiss was asked about critics calling CBS a “right wing network” at one point. Weiss said people can look at their work and make up their own mind.

“I’m here to do one thing, not to be a mouthpiece for anybody,” she said. “It’s simply to be a mouthpiece for fairness and the pursuit of truth.”

And Weiss she seemed to have a bit of a sense of humor about King’s warning to leakers. NYT reporter Michael Grynbaum posted that she “wryly” responded, “I’m sure someone’s livestreaming it right now, Gayle.”

That was pretty much the case.

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