Weiss Announces Staff Cuts, Commentary Additions at CBS News

CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss announced plans to cut staff and hire approximately 18 paid commentators at an all-staff meeting Tuesday morning, according to NPR News. The move comes after a rocky start for Weiss, who arrived with a mandate to reshape the network's news coverage.

Initial changes implemented by Weiss at mainstay shows such as "60 Minutes" and the "CBS Evening News" have sparked dissent within the newsroom and drawn criticism from journalists outside the network, NPR reported. Weiss intends for the new commentators to provide a broader range of perspectives on news events.

In other news, President Donald Trump's economic policies and statements continued to draw scrutiny. At the World Economic Forum on January 21, Trump addressed concerns about the growing national debt, stating, "Growth is the way we go from high debt to low debt. We’re going to be growing our way out, and I think we’re going to be paying down debt," according to Fortune. However, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and most private forecasts predict that the federal deficit and debt will worsen under current policies, potentially adding $5.5 trillion to the deficit, Fortune reported.

Trump also faced criticism for comments made about Somalis during his speech at Davos. "We’re cracking down on more than 19 billion in fraud that was stolen by Somalian bandits," Trump said, according to Time. He continued, "Can you believe that Somalia, they turned out to be higher IQ than we thought? These are low IQ people, how do they go into Minnesota and steal all that money? And we have, you know, their pirates, they’re good pirates, right, but we shoot them out of the water, just like we shoot the drug boats out." Time reported that these remarks were translated into multiple languages and discussed widely, causing concern among Somalis globally.

Meanwhile, in Minnesota, tensions remained high following the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti by federal agents in south Minneapolis on January 24, 2026, according to Vox. The incident has renewed focus on the role and oversight of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Vox highlighted several potential avenues for reining in ICE, including action by Congress, the courts, and state governments.

The broader debate about economic growth and its impact on global issues also continued at Davos. Critics argue that focusing solely on economic growth is misguided and fails to address issues like poverty and inequality. "Economic growth is no magic bullet. And it certainly won’t solve global poverty," Time reported, citing the experience of the United Nations expert on poverty. The article further stated that historically, economic growth has funneled wealth into the hands of a few, trapping millions in insecure and poorly-paid jobs.