On Sunday, Anderson Cooper, one of the last veritable stars of TV news, bid farewell to 60 Minutes with an elegant and emotional retrospective on his 20-plus years at the newsmagazine. While reflecting on his myriad adventures around the globe, Anderson demonstrated the charisma, empathy, authenticity, and gravitas that established his place in the television news firmament.

But he also took a moment during the 17-minute segment to subtly critique the show’s direction under its new owner, David Ellison, as well as its new leader, Bari Weiss. “I hope 60 Minutes remains 60 Minutes,” he said. “There’s very few things that have been around for as long as 60 Minutes has and maintain the quality that it has. Things can always evolve and change, and I think that’s awesome, and things should evolve and change. But I hope the core of what 60 Minutes is always remains.”

Sure, the Bill Owens–Sharyn Alfonsi resistance set might have preferred a touch less diplomacy. But given Anderson’s blue-blood decorum and aversion to conflict—and, perhaps, the knowledge that he may wind up working with Bari down the road at CNN—this was about as forceful a critique as the anchor was likely to give. In any case, his decision to leave the network was message enough. And yet, because Anderson is genuinely famous—not just TV news famous—the dig hit hard, and got a fair deal of traction in both the tabloids and the trades.

Needless to say, this was merely the latest wave in a deluge of Licht-ian bad press that Bari has weathered. After seven months in the job, her exploits at CBS News remain the obsession of the industry and its chroniclers (yes… including myself). But the attention has also been inevitable, particularly given her inelegant attempts to tack the network toward an ostensibly centrist course (which remains a source of anxiety for network veterans) and, most importantly, the ratings declines and high-profile blunders that have laid bare the corrosive effects of her inexperience in television news. To wit, last week CBS failed to secure a travel visa for Tony Dokoupil ahead of President Trump’s historic trip to Beijing, which resulted in an eleventh-hour pivot to Taiwan, where an exhausted cameraman collapsed while Tony was live on air—one of the many indignities Tony’s suffered since taking the Evening News chair.

At the same time, Bari has endured her role as media punching bag with relative aplomb, refusing to betray exhaustion or vulnerability while seeming to plow ahead with her plans to overhaul the network. Meanwhile, Ellison and the Paramount brass have afforded her ample leeway because they genuinely like her, endorse the editorial pivot, and, frankly, have far bigger priorities than the news division. But there are signs that the dynamics are starting to shift.

As Paramount closes in on its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, I’m told that members of the senior leadership team have had informal discussions about changing Bari’s mandate at CBS News—and, eventually, CNN—in ways that would give her less control over the linear product. Paramount would look to bring in an executive who could manage that business.

No plans have been telegraphed or formally enshrined, and it’s unclear how involved David himself has been in the discussions. But sources with knowledge of the conversations said that Bari would likely cede day-to-day control over Evening News, CBS Mornings, and 60 Minutes to this more experienced, as-yet-unnamed executive, shifting her focus to the news division’s digital growth while maintaining broad editorial influence across all the company’s platforms.

The conversations, I’m told, reflect Paramount leadership’s newfound acceptance that Bari was given too broad a mandate for someone without previous experience in television, as well as some irritation with the ceaseless barrage of negative press. After all, before founding The Free Press—which Paramount acquired last year for a handsome $150 million—Bari had only ever served as an editor and writer. Nevertheless, David put her in charge of the news division, with a direct reporting line to him, while entrusting that network president Tom Cibrowski, a TV news veteran, would pick up the slack. But even with Tom in place, sources inside CBS News and 60 Minutes complain that Bari is drastically overstretched, and lacks the experience and managerial skills necessary to run the network.

For now, it’s unclear whether leadership would enlist current CNN C.E.O. Mark Thompson for the linear role, though David has met with him in recent days, I’m told. Sources said it was unlikely that David would elevate Cibrowski, a capable broadcast manager but not necessarily the right fit for a combined mandate across CBS and CNN. Meanwhile, it remains very possible that they could bring in someone from outside the building. As you’ll recall, former Paramount president Jeff Shell had informal conversations with former CBS News president David Rhodes about serving in a similar role. Many CNN veterans still fantasize about the second coming of Jeff Zucker, who has quietly advised Bari at times, but most doubt that David would want to risk antagonizing Trump by hiring his old nemesis. In any event, as one source noted, David & Co. have come around to the view that they need to “let her be her.”

Bari has her supporters and detractors, to be sure, but it would be entirely unfair to pin this misadventure solely on her. She took a nine-figure deal that most people in their right minds would have accepted and held her head mostly high amid an unprecedented situation. Ellison is also concurrently trying to close his $111 billion WBD deal in order to stand up a bona fide media kingdom —and may have been working through his own learning curve during this experiment. In this sort of dynamic environment, big decisions have been made quickly, even if they need to be undone relatively quickly too.

That said, it’s hard to imagine that the pace of change is going to slow down anytime soon—not at CBS News or Paramount Skydance or, eventually, WarnerMount. Closing this merger will require a massive pro forma-ing of thousands of people and finding billions in synergies. In a way, this potential new role could be a gift for Bari. Despite all the headaches she’s had to manage, the next person is going to have to deal with much worse.