How Stacey Woelfel would Run CBS News

I love newspapers.

Having grown up in a house where three daily papers were delivered and read religiously -- and having a mother who was a journalist, editor, and feature writer -- I can't imagine a day without a newspaper. I read three-four newspapers everyday -- Denver Post, Washington Post, New York Times, and Wall Street Journal, and the Denver paper comes in print edition digital format, so I read it cover to cover like the old days. 

Alas, I fully know and begrudgingly accept the changing landscape of news and print journalism that has led to the rise of Substack newsletters. And I am rather intrigued by the way some individual Substack newsletters have become, in some ways, major "newspapers." Yes, I am clearly talking about the rise of The Free Press and with it the writer -- and now head of CBS News -- Bari Weiss.   

So I was quite intrigued, engaged, and informed by the recent Substack article If I Were the Boss at CBS… by Stacey Woelfel, the esteemed journalist and emeritus professor at the University of Missouri's journalism school. Woelfel's newsletter The Last Editor is a thoughtful and informative take on the industry from one who knows it best.

I’m sure we’re all watching what’s going on at CBS News right now. From the appointment of a “bias monitor” to the hiring of Bari Weiss as the first ever editor-in-chief for CBS News, all indications are that the most valuable brand in TV news is about to be dismantled and thrown to the dogs as scraps. Now under the control of billionaire heir David Ellison, this journalism giant has been a thorn in the side of the Trump administration and it appears Ellison plans to do something about that.

These changes shouldn’t come as a surprise to any of us. Buying up news organizations to muzzle them has become a regular pastime for the billionaire class. As we watch the demise of the Tiffany Network’s strong news voice, I figured I would spin a fantasy about what I’d do if someone gave me the keys to CBS and told me to “go crazy.” So here goes, the nine moves I’d make if I ran CBS (in no particular order):

I appreciated many of Woelfel's insights and suggestions, but as a resident of Colorado, I was quite intrigued by his comments on local news hound Kyle Clark of 9-News and a unique and innovative news show "Next with Kyle Clark." Clark is a true gem who has vastly improved the journalism landscape of Colorado since coming to us from the East and Syracuse University.

Hire Denver’s Kyle Clark and his team to remake the CBS Evening News

I’ve left the flagship news broadcast for nearly last, though that doesn’t mean I don’t have big changes in mind there, too. The network evening news—on all the networks—has devolved to a point that it serves no purpose, as far as I can tell, other than as a carrier for pharmaceutical advertising. Why not remake the program into something that will once again be important for informed people to see? I’d have CBS reach outside the company for this one, offering Kyle Clark and his team at Denver’s KUSA-TV (a TEGNA powerhouse) whatever it takes to get them to jump ship and bring their innovative newscast to the network. If you’re unfamiliar with Mr. Clark’s work, I urge you to take a look at his daily 6 pm newscast, entitled Next with Kyle Clark. Clark and his team are reinventing local TV news, actually making it valuable to viewers. Clark tells it like it is, which means no both sides-isms; instead, he calls out those who deserved to be called out no matter where they are on the political spectrum. Getting Clark on the network (or someone else able to do something similar) would breathe new life into a tired, yet still important news daypart.