CBS News staffers in London were reprimanded Tuesday over a report alleging that one of the bureau’s journalists faced resistance from a senior editor after trying to include the Palestinian death toll in an Evening News report broadcast last week.
Shayndi Raice, the bureau’s top editor and a former Wall Street Journal executive, delivered the reprimand, according to Status and The Guardian’s Jeremy Barr.
Barr first reported on the Tuesday morning all-hands editorial meeting in a post on X. Status, which published the original report on Monday, later released its own account of the meeting.
Both accounts characterized the session as a “lecture.” Status also noted that Raice was personally recruited by Bari Weiss, who became CBS News chief earlier this year.
Raice reportedly opened the meeting by referring to the Status article, which briefly mentioned an alleged disagreement between her and CBS News Senior Foreign Correspondent Holly Williams.
The article focused largely on reported complaints from 60 Minutes correspondent Lesley Stahl. According to a source, Stahl was considering leaving the program after a series of edits to her report on the current situation in the West Bank, which aired Sunday.
Bari Weiss, a vocal supporter of Israel, was identified as responsible for the changes, along with her handpicked deputy, CBS News Managing Editor Charles Forelle.
The dispute between Raice and Williams reportedly centered on Williams’ effort to include the Gaza war’s death toll in a report broadcast October 7, Status reported Monday. Although the context was initially included, it was removed from the final version.
CBS News staffers in London were reportedly reprimanded Tuesday after a report alleged that one of the bureau’s journalists encountered resistance while trying to include the Palestinian death toll in an Evening News report broadcast last week
Holly Williams presented the segment, which examined the situation in Gaza three years after the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023. Her original script included the number of casualties recorded since then, but that detail was omitted from the final broadcast
“This is not your publishing platform,” Raice reportedly told staff members the morning after details of the dispute emerged. “This is a company that we all work for, and there’s a hierarchy in place.”
“If you can’t answer to that hierarchy, and you don’t listen to what we say, that is called insubordination, and it’s legal grounds for firing.”
“We’re going to change some of the workflow,” she reportedly said, referring to the foreign desk. “This doesn’t specifically have to do with what happened last week. This really has been a long time coming.”
Raice then invited questions, according to Status. Williams was reportedly the first staffer to respond.
She began by addressing comments Raice had made during the 15-minute meeting, which repeatedly assured Williams that she was not being singled out.
“So I obviously heard what you said, Shayndi, about it not being an attack on me, and thank you for that,” Williams said, according to Status.
“But just so I do understand a little bit better, are you suggesting that I am posturing, that I’ve ignored you, self-published material, or are you accusing me of insubordination? I just want a bit more clarity on what of that is specifically directed at me.”
“None of this, Holly, is directed at you,” Raice reportedly replied. “This is something that I have been discussing for a long time, and I also, I mean, yeah, none of it’s directed at you.”
Shayndi Raice, the bureau’s top editor and a former Wall Street Journal executive, reportedly delivered the reprimand after a Monday Status report detailed the dispute and described complaints from longtime 60 Minutes correspondent Lesley Stahl
The nature of Stahl’s concerns, and the editorial direction that reportedly angered her, remain unclear. The finished report examined violent Israeli settlers who use sheep farms and other tactics to take control of land in the West Bank. Stahl has been a 60 Minutes correspondent for 35 years
Raice assured Williams that they could continue the conversation privately.
‘But none of this is directed at anyone in particular.’
Williams responded by pointing out how the direction she received about the casualty count – nearly 75,000 people since October 7, 2023 – ‘wasn’t a negotiation’ as she and other staffers were used to receiving.
‘I was told that I had to make the changes as written, and that there was no negotiation,’ Williams said.
‘At that point – yes, that’s right,’ Raice reportedly admitted. ‘At that point, there was no negotiation. Now, had you called me, we could have had a discussion. But at that point, there wasn’t.’
She reportedly added: ‘We’re not saving Palestinians by saying, by repeating this magic number.’
‘It’s just these are hard decisions that people see differently on, and we have to debate it, and you know, we come up with the best way we think,’ Raice reportedly said.
Williams then revealed another part of her script that was removed, according to Status – one that the reporter framed as her ‘biggest concern about the dictated script that was sent to me.’
Raice was handpicked for her post by CBS News chief Bari Weiss – an ardent Israel supporter seen here last month with German media executive Mathias Döpfner and Peter Thiel in Berlin
Another cut portion of Williams’ script reportedly referenced allegations specific to Benjamin Netanyahu’ and how the Israeli leader may have received advance notice of the attack by Hamas. Israel began it ongoing military campaign immediately after
‘It was about the removal of the allegations specific to Benjamin Netanyahu,’ she told the room, in what Status pointed out was a reference to reports that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had received advance notice of the attack by Hamas that led to Israel’s military response.
Raice said she ‘actually felt really strong’ about her move not to include such reporting, arguing that the Israeli leader had long denied the claims and CBS News had not ‘independently confirmed those allegations.’
‘Secondly, I was just in Israel for Sukkot. I have a lot of friends who live there. We’re talking about politics the entire time. Everybody was talking about the election. Everybody was talking about Netanyahu and October 7. Nobody was talking about those allegations,’ Raice reportedly continued.
‘And you know why? Because nobody really cares. That is not an issue in the election.’
‘Those allegations are a sideshow,’ Raice added, according to Status. ‘It’s not important, and I just think you got it wrong.
‘And you probably got it wrong because you don’t know the story as well as I do. And that’s where my experience and my judgment comes in.’
Raice also claimed any suggestions she or anyone else was ‘trying to project’ Netanyahu is ‘like ridiculous,’ Status reported.
‘I did not accuse you of that,’ Williams reportedly said.
‘We’re not saving Palestinians by saying, by repeating this magic number,’ Raice reportedly said, while announcing that the desk’s workflow was set to change. The Daily Mail approached CBS News for comment
‘I’m just saying I know that story really well, and I have thoughts on how to frame it,’ Raice hit back. ‘In general, we will be able to have a lot of back and forth.’
‘But I think that the main, the broader points are what’s important here,’ Raice reportedly concluded. ‘And I’m very happy to have a full debrief with you, Holly.’
The Daily Mail has approached CBS News for comment.
The Monday report from Status also claimed that Stahl, 84, became frustrated last week after Weiss, 42, and Forelle began participating in screenings and suggesting edits for her segment on the violence Palestinians have faced from extremist Israeli settlers, to the point where she was ready to call it a career.
The issues and the direction that reportedly angered her, for now, remain unknown.
‘This is a ludicrous, twisted narrative,’ a CBS spokesperson said of the claims surrounding Stahl and Weiss Tuesday morning. ‘All 60 Minutes pieces go through a famously rigorous editorial process – which includes edits from editors. This piece received far fewer edits than most.’
A source who spoke with the Mail expressed similar sentiments, months after Weiss made a slew of changes to the newsmagazine in anticipation of her first full season in charge.
‘Things have changed at 60 Minutes. It was previously siloed off from CBS. That’s not the case anymore,’ they said, referring to edits from CBS staffers that 60 Minutes mainstays like Stahl may not be used to.
After Scott Pelley’s sensational exit from the program in June, a former CBS News executive told the Mail that ‘arrogance’ has ‘pervaded’ CBS for years, particularly within 60 Minutes.
