bari weiss

CBS News named veteran anchor and correspondent Adriana Diaz and business journalist Kelly O’Grady as the new co-hosts for “CBS Saturday Morning.”

The duo will officially start this week, the division announced Friday. The previous long-time co-hosts, Michelle Miller and Dana Jacobson, were let go in a wave of company-wide staff reductions in October.

The cuts and changes at the weekend program were in the works before Bari Weiss arrived to begin her role as editor-in-chief of CBS News earlier that month.

Weiss has generated controversy and bad publicity for the network with her last-minute decision to pull a “60 Minutes” story on the Trump administration’s treatment of hundreds of Venezuelan migrants who were deported to El Salvador. Critics have also been less than impressed with the revamp of “CBS Evening News” which began this week with new anchor Tony Dokoupil.

Diaz and O’Grady will also alternate as co-hosts of “CBS Mornings 24/7,” the daily program on the CBS News streaming platform, working alongside featured host Vladimir Duthiers.

Diaz has been with CBS News since 2012. She has served as a China-based correspondent covering Asia, and later reported from Chicago. Her last anchor role was on “CBS Mornings Plus,” a short-lived one-hour program that followed “CBS Mornings” in several markets, including Los Angeles.

Diaz, 42, also had a stint as anchor of “CBS Weekend News.” She is a frequent fill-in for “CBS Mornings” co-host Gayle King. Internally, Diaz is considered a possible successor to King who is in the final year of her contract with CBS News.

O’Grady, 34, is a recent addition to CBS joined the network in 2024 as a correspondent for its MoneyWatch unit where she reported on the economy. She had been a correspondent and fill-in anchor at Fox Business.

In addition to her co-host role, O’Grady will continue to cover business, technology and the economy for the network.

A “60 Minutes” story on the Trump administration’s imprisonment of hundreds of deported Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador was pulled by CBS News Editor-In-Chief Bari Weiss shortly before it was scheduled to air Sunday night.

The unusual decision drew a sharp rebuke from Sharyn Alfonsi, the correspondent for the piece.

Alfonsi said the decision was motivated by politics, according to an email she circulated to colleagues and viewed by the Times. Alfonsi noted that the story was ready for air after being vetted by the network’s attorneys and the standards and practices department.

“It is factually correct,” Alfonsi wrote. “In my view, pulling it now — after every rigorous internal check has been met is not an editorial decision, it is a political one.”

According to the CBS News press department’s description of the segment, Alfonsi spoke to released deportees who described “the brutal and torturous conditions they endured inside CECOT,” one of El Salvador’s harshest prisons.

In a statement, a representative for CBS News said the report called “Inside CECOT” will air in a future “60 Minutes” broadcast. “We determined it needed additional reporting,” the representative said.

Weiss viewed the segment late Thursday, according to people familiar with the matter who were not authorized to comment publicly. She had a number of issues with story and asked for additional reporting, which could not be completed in time for airing on Sunday. A press release promoting the story went out Friday.

Weiss reportedly wanted the story to have an interview with an official in President Trump’s administration.

But Alonsi said in her email the program “requested responses to questions and/or interviews” with the the Department of Homeland Security, the White House and the State Department.

“Government silence is a statement, not a VETO,” Alfonsi wrote. “Their refusal to be interviewed is a tactical maneuver designed to kill the story.”

Alfonsi’s email said she learned the story was pulled on Saturday and that she had not discussed the matter with Weiss.

Even if Weiss’ concerns might be valid, the sudden postponement of a “60 Minutes” piece after it has been promoted on air, on social media and through listings on TV grids is a major snafu for the network.

For Weiss, it’s perilous situation as her every move as a digital media entrepreneur with no experience in television is being closely scrutinized.

As the founder of the conservative-friendly digital news site who was personally recruited by Paramount Chief Executive David Ellison, journalists at CBS News and media industry observers are watching to see if Weiss’ actions are tilting its editorial content to the right.

Before it was acquired by Skydance Media, Paramount agreed to pay $16 million to settle a Trump lawsuit making the dubious claim that a “60 Minutes” interview with Kamala Harris was deceptively edited to aid her 2024 presidential election campaign against him.

Trump recently said “60 Minutes” is “worse” under Paramount’s new ownership following an interview with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, in which she was highly critical of the president and his administration.

Paramount acquired the Free Press for $150 million as part of the deal to bring Weiss over. Her first major move was to air a highly sympathetic town hall with Erika Kirk, the widow of slain right-wing activist Charlie Kirk. Erika Kirk has taken over as head of Turning Point USA, the political organization her husband founded.