CBS has long been a network in decline. With dismal ratings, the network has been mired in third place for years, and many view it as openly biased and partisan in its coverage, including pushing false stories with a political agenda. Bari Weiss was brought in to save the network and move it back to a neutral center. She has encountered continued attacks from staff who are outraged by the efforts, including her recent selection of Tony Dokoupil as the next evening anchor. Dokoupil is being attacked as too white, male, straight, and pro-Israel.

The one identity these staffers seem less interested in is that of a top news network. Weiss is trying to save their very jobs by reversing this trend. However, these anonymous staffers would prefer to lose their jobs than their bias.

For full disclosure, I worked (twice) for CBS News as a legal analyst. I have great affection for the network and want to see it return to its prior glory. However, years of staff and culture shifts have taken their toll. Great reporters like Catherine Herridge were let go despite their reputations for following stories regardless of the political impact or influence.

The objections to Dokoupil are particularly revealing. Past CBS hosts and anchors have destroyed the network’s standing with many viewers, particularly those in the middle or right of the political spectrum. The decline was summed up when 60 Minutes’ Lesley Stahl literally laughed on air in the face of President Donald Trump, after he said that Biden was implicated in the influence-peddling scandal involving his son, Hunter.  It was not the smug delivery but Stahl categorically denying that Biden was facing a scandal and showing absolutely little interest in the documented millions of dollars that went to the Biden family.

CBS increasingly seemed to be reporting to a shrinking audience composed of themselves, other establishment media, and the far left. The result was a network that was underperforming and little-watched.

The owners and shareholders welcomed a new direction, but many in the staff want a return to the same disastrous path. It is reminiscent of the response of staff at the Washington Post to Jeff Bezos bringing in new editors to reverse the decline of the newspaper.

Post owner Jeff Bezos brought in Washington Post publisher and CEO William Lewis, who promptly delivered a truth bomb in the middle of the newsroom by telling the staff, “Let’s not sugarcoat it…We are losing large amounts of money. Your audience has halved in recent years. People are not reading your stuff. Right? I can’t sugarcoat it anymore.”

The response called for Lewis and other editors to be canned. Again, these reporters would rather give up their very jobs than their bias.

The attacks on Dokoupil’s race, gender, and sexual orientation captured the unhinged and hypocritical character of these critics. They are triggered by any mention of race or gender by others, but regularly move to cancel others using the same identity criteria. It does not matter that Dokoupil has a long journalistic career or that a major change is badly needed if the network is to reverse these trending numbers. His actual talents appear immaterial to the consideration of his race, gender, and sexual orientation.

For those of us who once worked at the network, we are rooting for Weiss and Dokoupil in turning this ship around. CBS has been one of the truly great news organizations. It can be again.