Dear Ms. Weiss,

Congratulations on surviving your first day in your new job as Editor-In-Chief at CBS News. Which, of course, is a new job in a storied legacy place of broadcast journalism. After all, even Edward R. Murrow was never bestowed the newspaper title that makes you again a trailblazer, much as you were when you left the New York Times and started your online publication, The Free Press. It was nice of your new boss, ParamountSkydance Chair David Ellison, to purchase The Free Press for $150 million, aside from offering you the fabulous new job.

As veterans of the task of walking into a newsroom for the first time after being hired to lead it, we hope to offer a few tips to help make the transition just a little easier and set you up for success. Because, despite all the handwringing there has been from all sides of the block there on NYC’s West 57th Street, we here at The Topline really are hoping for your success.

The good news is that you inherit some still valuable news properties. Yes, we acknowledge that broadcast TV is not your background, and from the looks of things, it does not appear to be the future growth engine that PSKY is counting on to improve the bottom line significantly. However, it is still drawing an audience, albeit a much smaller one than in the days of Cronkite. There is still a bit of that “Tiffany network” shine to the programs like 60 Minutes, Sunday Morning, and Face The Nation—even if the daily flagships in the Morning and Evening are struggling against the competition at ABC and NBC.

Let's face the elephant in the room. Your arrival is not a surprise, as it was rumored about, speculated about, written about, and apparently dreaded by many of your now colleagues. You arrive with many questions about who you intend to be in this broad new role, which has you reporting directly to CEO Ellison. (While that reporting structure of you, as Editor-In-Chief, and your boss seemingly as the “Publisher” of CBS News, may be more comfortable given your background, it is unfamiliar to those who have been toiling away in broadcast journalism. And given that there has always been some judgmental feel to having to segregate the work done on television as being a specific subset of “journalism,” the whole newspaper org chart is going to take some getting used to.)

But the real pachyderm in the corner is the fear that you have been brought in because of your politics, or at least the appearance that your politics drives your editorial viewpoint. Also, that you have been hired, at least in part, to provide a viewpoint that might be appreciated more by the current administration in Washington, which has been vocal in its criticism of—forgive the obvious pun here—pretty much the entire free press, including and perhaps especially, CBS News.

We’ll set aside the recent chapter of having to write a check—although we still aren’t sure where the check went—but a check nonetheless for around $16 million. That was the previous owner's problem, and that is your first recommendation from us. Blame your predecessors for all of the bad decisions that were made before your arrival. If need be, don’t be afraid to throw the memory of Ed Murrow under the bus in establishing that “A New Day Is Dawning” at CBS News.

After all, it didn’t stop that Clooney fellow from raking in some cash playing him on Broadway.

We noticed that on your first day, you adopted a similar approach to Charles Foster Kane, issuing your own “statement of principles,” just as Kane did when he took over “The New York Inquirer.” These ten ideals (let’s not call them commandments, because that would be too precious by half) all seem agreeable enough when first read:

1.  Journalism that reports on the world as it actually is.
2.  Journalism that is fair, fearless, and factual.
3.  Journalism that respects our audience enough to tell the truth plainly—wherever it leads.
4.  Journalism that makes sense of a noisy, confusing world.
5.  Journalism that explains things clearly, without pretension or jargon.
6.  Journalism that holds both American political parties to equal scrutiny.
7.  Journalism that embraces a wide spectrum of views and voices so that the audience can contend with the best arguments on all sides of a debate.
8.  Journalism that rushes toward the most interesting and important stories, regardless of their unpopularity.
9.  Journalism that uses all of the tools of the digital era.
10. Journalism that understands that the best way to serve America is to endeavor to present the public with the facts, first and foremost.

We’re reminded here of the brilliant monologue from comedy legend George Carlin on The Ten Commandments from 2001. Carlin’s premise is that the list was "deliberately and artificially inflated to get it up to ten.” He goes on to explain that the number ten is significant because “Ten sounds important. Ten sounds official.” You may want to watch Carlin’s original bit, which is available by clicking here.

He really nails it when he states that having ten was really…a marketing decision.

And indeed, in the early going, you are going to be selling yourself to the entire news division, just to let them know that aside from being “the new sheriff in town” and having to say “It is great to meet you” way more times than a Chik-Fil-A worker has to say “my pleasure” each day— you are also there to assure everyone that you are “excited be part of the team."

Because soon enough, you will need to cut the team down to a smaller, more efficient size. One that happens to look a lot better in a spreadsheet that has to go to the bean counters.

The list of projects to dive into there at CBS News is a long one. Do be careful not to be pulled in too many different directions at once. First and foremost, establish your immediate team around you. You can’t do it all by yourself; this is not like starting up a newsletter or even writing an opinion column. Those are, as we are sure you know, solo activities. You can do them all by yourself. TV News is definitely a team sport, and your first order of business is much like that of a new NFL head coach; you need the rest of your coaching staff on board as quickly as you can assemble them.

There is the question of the holdover from the previous regime, CBS News President Tom Cibrowski. By all accounts, he is an experienced hand in the whole specialty of “broadcast journalism” and has some capital from the newsroom staff. Even though he doesn’t have the same access to the guy running the whole PSKY empire as you do, he can be a help if you can recruit him to your way of wanting to do things. Tanya Simon’s elevation to Executive Producer at 60 Minutes was hailed by the team of individuals who, for whatever reason, work on their own island in the building across the street from the network newsroom at the CBS Broadcast Center. However, the other island, which was the CBS Morning News studio located at 1515 Broadway (in the former MTV space of the old Viacom building, overlooking Times Square), recently returned to the Broadcast Center. 

That’s one less group working independently of the mothership. Always better when you don’t have to get in a cab to see part of your newsroom that is in another part of town.

Listen, we know it was a long first day, and we have a lot of other thoughts to share with you. Still, out of respect for your time, we’ll follow George Carlin’s lead and suggest that you consider trimming your list of ten principles down to just two, at least in this crucial “Introductory phase” of your new job.

The first one is simple, because from our view of watching the work done by CBS News over nearly 100 years of being in existence, since William Paley bought the Columbia Broadcating System in 1927, you could easily say that the legacy of “the house that Murrow built” has always been about your point number 8: Journalism that rushes toward the most interesting and important stories, regardless of their unpopularity. That principle has never been in short supply at CBS News, even on the rare occasion that the organization may have misstepped in pursuit of it.

The second principle we’d suggest is deserving of the most of your attention right out of the gate is your second one. “Journalism that is fair, fearless, and factual.” These days, not everyone agrees that being factual and fearless in the pursuit of a story is fair. In fact, labeling such journalism as “fake news" is the lingua franca not only of those politically opposed to any critical coverage of their positions, but also repeated by the media outlets that operate in sycophantic support of those political views.

We also agree with your tenth and final principle, that the fair and fearless journalism you have endorsed is "the best way to serve America is to endeavor to present the public with the facts, first and foremost.” It is up to you to define just what that standard is going to be at CBS News. That will require numerous conversations in the weeks and months to come.

There will be more problems awaiting you tomorrow and the day after that.

But based on our experience, a moment will arrive, probably far sooner than you will want it to, when a news story will require a clear determination of how your legacy at the helm of CBS News will be remembered. Let us quote one of your predecessors at CBS News who may have best summarized the challenge before you:

"The instruments with which you work are miraculous, (know) that your responsibility is unprecedented or that your aspirations are frequently frustrated.” 

Mr. Murrow made it clear just how big the stakes are: "For surely we shall pay for using this most powerful instrument of communication to insulate the citizenry from the hard and demanding realities which must indeed be faced if we are to survive."

No pressure there, really, just the survival of the nation and its citizens.

This is where we tell you the often retold fable of a new newsroom leader who arrives at their new office for the first time to find three sealed envelopes and a note from their immediate predecessor in the top desk drawer. The note is cordial, much like the tradition of outgoing Presidents leaving a note for their successor in the Resolute Desk of the Oval Office. It states that the person who sat behind the desk before you enjoyed their time here. They wanted to provide some help in making the transition into your new position, which comes with so much to accomplish and with so much scrutiny. It offers that on each occasion where you find yourself stuck on a decision, you should open one of the envelopes.

The leader smiles appreciatively at the note and closes the desk drawer. But at a point not too far in the future, they find themselves in a very tough spot with a major decision to deal with. To see if it might be of any help whatsoever, the first envelope is torn open. Inside is a card that states: “Blame your predecessor for everything wrong at the moment.” 

The second tough spot comes around sooner than expected, and the second envelope is opened. The card inside says: “Change the _________” and lists various things, including “talent,” “set,” “music,” “name,” “time,” and concludes with “anything else you can think of.”

After implementing all those changes, another major problem presents itself, and the news director is forced to open the third and final envelope to see just what the final recommendation might be.

And on the card inside, the simple statement advises: “Time to prepare three new envelopes."

We wish you the best in your new job. Enjoy the ride as much as you can. Please let us know if we can be of any assistance to you in the future.

Sincerely,

The Editors at TVND.com

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