Gayle King is tired of the negativity at CBS News and the grumbling about top editor Bari Weiss.
During a company town hall on Tuesday, the “CBS Mornings” star said she was “very proud” of the work the broadcast network had been doing despite noise and criticism about Weiss’ editorial decisions.
“This is very bumpy times for all of us, and we don’t know how it’s going to turn out,” King said in the all-hands meeting, according to an audio recording obtained by Business Insider. “But I do know that we want to work hard and do a good job.”
King said Weiss’ vision for CBS News “makes sense,” after the editor in chief told staffers the network must “shift to a streaming mentality immediately” and away from traditional TV.
“I don’t know anybody in this room that doesn’t want to make change for the better,” King said. “I don’t know anybody that doesn’t want to kick it up a notch. And I just don’t want any of us to lose sight of who we are and the job that we do here.”
King said that many of Weiss’ critics hadn’t taken the time to hear where she’s coming from.
“They’ve never even heard your frigging voice,” King said. “So it’s good for them to see you are a real person and this is what you want and how you feel about us and how you feel about this job.”
During the same town hall, Weiss addressed speculation about King’s future, telling staffers that the TV personality is “absolutely beloved” and that she sees King staying at CBS “long into the future.”
King also took those rumors about her next stop head-on.
“I’m so proud to work at this company,” King said. “I’m one of the people that had been in the news, too. I read the shit, and I go, ‘I don’t even know where that’s coming from.'”
Lastly, King addressed “the leakers in the building” at CBS News who’ve been sharing memos and recordings.
“I would like to think that we can have conversations and that we could talk candidly with each other, and it’s not going to frigging be in the paper,” King said to applause. “I’m so sick of that. I’m so sick of it. So, I’ll be curious to see how long it takes for this to get out, because it’ll be somebody in this room.”
