Reports surfaced last week that new CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss is looking at potential options for new anchors for CBS Evening News. One of the preferred options is Fox News anchor Bret Baier, according to the report from Status founder Oliver Darcy.
To put it mildly, there are some challenges for CBS News and Weiss to accomplish adding Baier to lead its venerable newscast.
For starters, a Fox News spokesperson has confirmed to Barrett Media that Baier is in the midst of a multi-year contract that runs through 2028.
Furthermore, Baier has a long history with his current network home. He originally joined Fox News in 1998, meaning he’ll have spent 30 years with the network should he remain there through the end of his current deal.
With the rumors swirling that Baier is the prize at the top of Weiss’ list of dream candidates to lead the struggling evening newscast it led me to think of three questions I’d love to have answered by the parties involved.
For CBS News: Do You Think Bret Baier Fixes All The Problems CBS Evening News Faces?
CBS Evening News is in the midst of a ratings downturn. That slump came after the departure of former anchor Norah O’Donnell, who departed the newscast in January in the days following the inauguration of President Donald Trump.
At the time of her exit, the nightly newscast averaged more than 5 million viewers per night, while still sitting behind ABC News’ World News Tonight with David Muir and NBC Nightly News, which was then anchored by Lester Holt.
In the most recent week, CBS Evening News averaged 3.7 million viewers, while the NBC News show — now anchored by Tom Llamas — averaged 5.7 million viewers, and the ABC News program featured 7.7 million.
So, does the outlet think Bret Baier would fix the problems CBS Evening News currently faces?
I think the answer to that question depends on how it moves forward. Will the network pony up the money to buy Baier out of his deal with Fox News? It can’t wait until he becomes a free agent three years from now to rectify the problems, right? Has CBS News even identified what the issues are with its newscast that led to the ratings downturn?
There are all sorts of questions that CBS News needs to answer before it can even get to the question of “Which anchor will help pull us up to be more competitive with NBC News, let alone ABC News?”
For Fox News: How Important is Bret Baier to You?
This is the most important question, in my opinion. Does Fox News place enough value on what Baier brings to the network that it won’t allow him out of his deal until it expires in 2028?
In my opinion, it should. In the pecking order of importance to the brand — whether it be credibility, reliability, or any other “ability” for that matter — few should be above Bret Baier on the network’s hierarchy.
Baier plays the straight newsman persona in the Fox News weekday evening lineup it so desperately needs. Forget the charges of political bias, especially in primetime, Special Report with Bret Baier — as well as the various long-form special interviews and debate moderation services he provides — brings a necessary service to Fox News.
If critics attempt to attack the network for any political biases in its reporting, it can point to Baier as its North Star. And it’s a damn fine card to be able to play, if I do say so myself. He’s spoken often about how important it is for him to ask “tough, but fair” questions of those he interviews, which he’s continually backed up.
Now, I don’t think Fox News is having any internal discussions about whether or not it can allow Baier to walk to a competitor. I would have to assume that the network does understand the value that Baier brings each night, as well as the credibility he brings.
If I were a betting man, I’d imagine Fox News tells CBS News that it can kick rocks if overtures are made about his availability, truthfully.
For Bret Baier: How Exciting is a Total Makeover to You At This Stage of Your Career?
Everyone wants to be wanted, don’t we? And when you’ve been at the same place for going on three decades, the relationship could inevitably feel stale at times, no?
But Bret Baier would still need to answer this question: How exciting is a total makeover? The 55-year-old has a lot of freedom, it would seem, at Fox News. The ratings for his nightly program are strong. As strong as any cable program — not cable news show, any cable show — in the entire medium.
With that being said, anchoring CBS Evening News — holding the same position that the likes of Walter Cronkite and Dan Rather once held — has to be mildly enticing, right? But is it enticing enough to end a nearly three-decade run with the 10,000-pound cable news gorilla?
Everyone is different in this area. Some are naturally inclined to take more chances, while others take solace in the comfort of a familiar home. Obviously, I don’t know how Bret Baier feels about this singular topic. But it sure would be interesting to have access to that answer, wouldn’t it?
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As I said, I think it’s likely that Bret Baier stays with Fox News and continues to be the face of the network’s news arm.
But, in the few times that we have the opportunity to treat news media personalities like sports stars — and speculate about potential horsetrading at the highest levels of the television news ecosystem — I think it’s a fun exercise to consider what that might look like, what are the important questions that need answers, and just how plausible something like this actually is.
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Garrett Searight is Barrett Media’s News Editor, which includes writing daily news stories, features, and opinion columns. He joined Barrett Media in 2022 after a decade leading several radio brands in several formats, as well as a 5-year stint working in local television. In addition to his work with Barrett Media, he is a radio and TV play-by-play broadcaster. Reach out to him at Garrett@BarrettMedia.com.
Neither will benefit from this move. Baier has a captive audience. CBS will lose some leftys if they give him the main news job. And his Fox audience won’t follow him there.