Scott MacFarlane sat down with Katie Couric to chat about the week’s news — and about CBS News. But Couric soon got frustrated with MacFarlane’s answers about the legacy news organization under the leadership of Bari Weiss.
MacFarlane departed from CBS earlier this month as Weiss continues making changes to the network. On Monday, the reporter joined MeidasTouch as a Chief Washington Correspondent. Still, the reporter refrained from engaging with any significant criticism about CBS that Couric threw his way.
“Did you sign an NDA, by chance,” Couric asked, apparently fed up with his non-answers.
“I’m not sure I’ve ever signed an NDA,” MacFarlane laughed, “other than the fact that, at one point in college radio, I had to promise not to tell about the format change we were about to undergo.”
“Are you concerned, or have you noticed, let me put it that way, a change of tone and approach at CBS News writ large,” Couric asked directly. “Not with your reporting, Scott, not with anybody instructing you specifically. But have you noted a change in tone, and if so, are you concerned about it?”
“I didn’t notice that, didn’t have visibility on any of that,” MacFarlane said. “And I’d say so if I did.”
Couric later, even more directly, asked MacFarlane if he ever got the sense that “we need to aim our reporting at a particular part of the political spectrum.”
“Never, nor would I have stayed for that,” MacFarlane responded. He later called such edicts “fan fiction.” You can watch the full clip below.
In their sit-down, Couric asked MacFarlane a number of questions about his time at CBS News and the current state of the organization. In particular, Couric asked about a recent January 6 anniversary reflection broadcasted under Weiss’ leadership, a broadcast where Couric said CBS Evening News “gave it very little time, and was very much a both-sides approach.”
“According to reports, you were put off by that,” Couric told MacFarlane, who’s extensively covered the events of January 6. “Let’s take the delivery system and adapting to change aside. I want to talk to you about philosophically what was happening and what continues to happen at CBS News under the Ellisons and Bari Weiss. How did you feel about that, Scott?”
“I have a broad concern about this January 6 both-sidesism,” MacFarlane responded. “I don’t think it’s limited to any one news outlet.”
“I do think that CBS has made a concerted effort to be more accommodating to Donald Trump at certain instances,” Couric said. “I’m sorry that I’m just gonna grill you on this Scott.”
Despite her grilling, MacFarlane didn’t speak out of school about his time at CBS News under the new Weiss/Ellison leadership. The anchor said he was given “a lot of runway to talk about January 6” on the 2026 anniversary via their streaming platform. He later said he “holds no grudges” about not being part of the coverage that evening, and that there’s “only so much bandwidth in those broadcasts” for reporters who feel they have something to say.
Despite his own departure from CBS News, MacFarlane didn’t appear willing to take his former employer to task.
“I’ll tell you, the talented people at CBS are there, have been there for decades, and I suspect they’re gonna be there a long way into the future,” MacFarlane said. “Because it is the best writers, best producers, best editors, best people in class in television news.”
