CBS News Uproar as Gayle King’s Pay Comes Under Fire After Bari Weiss Takeover

CBS News is in open turmoil, and Gayle King has found herself at the center of it. Reports that the network’s new leadership views her long-reported $13–15 million salary as unsustainable have landed badly with staff, viewers, and the wider media world. This is being framed as belt-tightening in a tough market. Many do not buy that explanation, especially given who is making the call and how CBS has behaved since her arrival.

“By some accounts, Weiss is only getting started. She may be getting ready to focus on CBS Mornings, mindful that host Gayle King’s salary — valued at around $15 million a year, according to one person familiar with the network — is no longer viable in a weaker media economy. King is said to be considering various options, including a special correspondent role that would have her making appearances on CBS News properties but not being a regular host, or another that might keep her on the air for another year but at a lower salary, giving her 12 full months to bid farewell to viewers. – Variety

The Latest Moves Inside CBS News

According to reporting from Variety and follow-up coverage elsewhere, Bari Weiss has questioned whether Gayle King’s pay still fits the current media economy. King is said to be weighing options that include a scaled-back special correspondent role or a one-year farewell deal at a lower rate. Neither option suggests confidence in the future of CBS Mornings as it currently exists.

This debate sits alongside wider instability at CBS News. Trade reporting has detailed rushed editorial decisions, public missteps, and internal frustration since Weiss took control. There is also talk of reshaping the network’s streaming output, with more emphasis on talk-driven podcasts and less on traditional reporting formats. CBS has declined to make executives available for comment, leaving the reporting to speak for itself.

The Backlash And What Viewers Are Saying

Online reaction has been swift and ferocious. On social media, the dominant sentiment runs strongly in Gayle King’s favor and sharply against Weiss. Many users frame the salary debate as a familiar pattern, where a powerful and visible Black woman suddenly becomes “too expensive” once leadership changes. Comparisons between King’s reported $13–15 million salary and Bari Weiss’s own $150 million deal with Paramount have driven some of the most viral posts.

King’s defenders point to her decades at the network, her role in building CBS Mornings, and her reputation as one of television’s most trusted interviewers. Calls to boycott CBS or urges for King to walk away rather than accept a reduced role appear repeatedly. A smaller group argues that seven-figure anchor salaries no longer make sense anywhere in television. That view exists, but it has not shaped the overall conversation.

Why This Looks Like Power, Not Economics

This controversy illustrates the sober business recalibration and the new leadership’s failure to play out in public. People who arrive in legacy newsrooms often underestimate the value of those who built them. Gayle King did not inherit her position. She earned it over decades of work that helped define CBS’s morning brand.

Claims of poverty ring hollow when Paramount has continued to spend aggressively, including a reported bidding war with Netflix and a $150 million deal for Bari Weiss. Against that backdrop, singling out Gayle King’s salary feels selective at best. At worst, it reflects an unease with Black women who hold authority and command top pay in legacy media spaces.

CBS News does not need to sideline one of its most credible figures to survive. It needs leadership that understands the institution it runs and respects the people who gave it value in the first place. Gayle King is not the problem here. The direction set above her is.