CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss has begun a rapid revamp of the network, hiring a chief operating officer and a senior vice president of talent and brand strategy ahead of a broad overhaul expected in the coming weeks. Sam Siegel was named chief operating officer, according to an internal memo reviewed by The New York Post, after previously serving as COO and chief financial officer at Zoomin, a data-management company that Salesforce acquired last year. Weiss, who joined CBS News in October, has signaled that leadership changes will continue as the network reshapes its strategy and operations.
Sophie Efthimiatou was appointed senior vice president of talent and brand strategy, the memo showed. Efthimiatou previously oversaw writer relations and events at Substack, aligning CBS News’s talent and brand initiatives with the network’s evolving editorial direction. In addition to these two hires, Weiss has been assembling a broader leadership team; the network has already brought on Free Press deputy editor Adam Rubenstein as deputy editor and Charles Forelle as managing editor in recent weeks. Those hires were first reported by The New York Post, which noted CBS News was not planning a formal announcement on Wednesday. CBS News declined to comment on the moves.
The management changes extend to the network’s on-air talent and programming. Weiss has recruited ABC News veteran Matt Guttman to take a leading role on CBS’s flagship investigative program “48 Hours,” a move announced by The Post. In a broader programming shake-up, CBS News president Tom Cibrowski and Weiss have rearranged on-air leadership, with Tony Dokoupil moving from “CBS Mornings” to anchor the “CBS Evening News.” Dokoupil is slated to assume the chair on Jan. 5, a restructuring that is expected to ripple through morning programming as CBS Mornings adapts to the new lineup. The program’s current co-hosts, Gayle King and Nate Burleson, are part of the broader transition.
The changes also touch CBS Saturday Morning, which is being reshaped in a first round of layoffs that included the removal of co-anchors and producers. Adriana Diaz and Kelly O’Grady are slated to replace Dana Jacobson and Michelle Miller as anchors, according to initial reports cited by The Post. The network’s leadership has framed the moves as part of a broader strategy to improve ratings and retool daytime and weekend programming, though executives have declined to comment publicly on the timing or scale of the overhaul.
The wide-ranging revamp comes as Weiss enters her early months at CBS News following a notable public pivot away from her previous editorial platform, The Free Press. She sold The Free Press to Paramount Skydance for about $150 million, a transaction that framed how CBS News could leverage new editorial talent and corporate backing in pursuing a more centrist, non-woke positioning.
Industry sources say the plan is to unveil Weiss’s vision in the new year, with formal announcements and further hires likely to accompany the next phase of consolidation and scheduling changes. In the meantime, CBS News has emphasized that personnel decisions are ongoing and that the network is aligning leadership, talent, and programming to pursue a more cohesive, cross-platform strategy across CBS News and its parent company.
CBS News did not provide comment on Wednesday’s staffing notes. The moves come as the network navigates headwinds in the current media environment, including competition for late-afternoon and prime-time audiences and the need to balance traditional newscasts with streamer-era content and digital-first reporting. As the overhaul progresses, industry observers will be watching how the new leadership integrates reporting, branding, and on-air talent across CBS News’s lineup.