Former CBS Evening News anchor Dan Rather weighed in on David Ellison’s hire of Bari Weiss as editor in chief at CBS News , warning that it portends a culture of fear in the news division as staffers worry about their jobs.

On his Substack , Steady, Rather put Weiss’ hire in the context of the Skydance-Paramount merger, noting that the companies bowed to pressure from the Trump administration in order to get the transaction approved by the FCC.

“That deal and the hiring of Weiss signals to everyone, especially to the man in the Oval Office, that CBS is no longer independent, but under the tutelage of a conservative billionaire who is putting more than his thumb on the scale,” Rather wrote.

Rather wrote of the pending layoffs across Paramount, with CBS News journalists worried

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