2026-09-01 · contested story

Bari Weiss 'personally directed' controversial headline in Abdul El-Sayed article to mention 9/11: report

CBS News published an August 31, 2026 article by reporter Zak Hudak titled 'Michigan Democrat Abdul El-Sayed's deleted tweets on Sept. 11 attacks invite scrutiny of past remarks,' highlighting now-deleted 2020-2021 social media posts in which El-Sayed—the Democratic nominee for Michigan's U.S. Senate seat and a potential first Muslim senator—compared the COVID-19 death toll to the nearly 3,000 killed on 9/11 and called for the U.S. to fight 'a war for public health & against poverty.' Oliver Darcy's Status newsletter then reported that CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss 'personally directed' that the headline be tweaked to specifically mention the 9/11 attacks, praising the story in an editorial meeting despite internal staff objections. The report ignited accusations of Islamophobia and drew defenses of Weiss's editorial judgment.

How each side frames it

left
"CBS News published an August 31 article linking Democratic Michigan Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed with the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the latest example of the news organization's rightward shift under editor-in-chief Bari Weiss."
"Contrary to CBS News' innuendo, many public figures compared the death tolls of COVID and 9/11."
"A former senior CBS News staffer added that the story was "shameful" and that the "racism is overt.""
"Anyone discussing this race needs to be very careful about putting the name of a man who would be America's first Muslim senator next to "9/11" on very thin grounds. It reads like a dog whistle."
"It's also not really the first time Weiss' CBS has been hostile or biased towards a Muslim candidate this year"
center
"CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss "personally directed" the September 11, 2001 terror attacks to be included in a headline for a controversial article about Abdul El-Sayed"
"The article also mentioned how El-Sayed had campaigned with Hasan Piker, a progressive streamer who said in 2019 that "America deserved 9/11." Piker later issued a retraction, and El-Sayed has explicitly rejected that comment as well."
"Darcy cited multiple anonymous sources within CBS News who expressed that Hudak's report "was not received so well," with staffers "view[ing] the story with disdain""
""As the nation prepares to mark 25 years since Sept. 11, 2001, Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Michigan, may be facing the risk of renewed scrutiny and fresh political attack," CBS News wrote Monday."
right
"How dare she improve the objective journalism of the entity she is responsible for"
"Nothing says objective journalism like the editorial board being your personal hit squad"
"Corporate media cover for Abdul El-Sayed spun a report on controversial September 11 posts into allegations of "overt racism" and an attack on CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss."
"As Americans prepare to mark 25 years since the September 11 terrorist attack, the political rise of Islamists across the country has demonstrated that some disgracefully opted to trample on vows to "Never Forget.""
"This is the same person campaigning with a guy who said "America deserved 9/11""

What each side left out

The left left out — covered by the Bizpac Review & Yahoo News
The left left out — covered by the Charlie Kirk / Mollie Hemingway (X)
The right left out — covered by the Media Matters & The Daily Beast
The right left out — covered by the Yahoo News & Mediaite
The center left out — covered by the Media Matters & Jezebel

What's actually true?

[contested] Bari Weiss 'personally directed' that the article's headline be tweaked to specifically mention El-Sayed's deleted tweets referencing the September 11 attacks
[verified] The claim originates from Oliver Darcy's Status newsletter citing anonymous CBS sources
[verified] The CBS article was written by Zak Hudak and published Monday (Aug 31, 2026) with headline 'Michigan Democrat Abdul El-Sayed's deleted tweets on Sept. 11 attacks invite scrutiny of past remarks'
[verified] El-Sayed compared the COVID-19 death toll to the nearly 3,000 killed on 9/11 and wrote of fighting 'a war for public health & against poverty ... like we launched a global #WaronTerror after 9/11. We could save lives rather than take them.'
[verified] Many mainstream public figures, including Trump's surgeon general, Andrew Cuomo, and Trump himself, made similar COVID/9-11 or Pearl Harbor comparisons
[verified] El-Sayed campaigned with Hasan Piker, who said in 2019 that 'America deserved 9/11,' a comment El-Sayed explicitly rejected
[verified] El-Sayed deleted the posts as part of scrubbing all his social media output before July 2023, with his campaign saying he did not want posts 'taken out of context'
[verified] Rep. Rashida Tlaib and Rep. Yassamin Ansari publicly condemned the headline as racist, with Ansari calling it 'an insane, blatantly racist headline'

The narrative clash

Whether El-Sayed's 9/11 posts were newsworthy/scandalous
Left: In reality, El-Sayed's comments, which he made on social media, were sober and well within the bounds of typical political discourse.
Right: Weiss ... believed the deleted posts were scandalous enough to report on. (framed approvingly) — and Bizpac frames the posts as 'controversial September 11 posts'
Whether Weiss's headline intervention was improper or legitimate
Left: A former senior CBS News staffer added that the story was "shameful" and that the "racism is overt."
Right: How dare she improve the objective journalism of the entity she is responsible for
Characterization of the backlash
Left: Targeting Abdul like this is intentional and coordinated. Disgusting. (Rep. Rashida Tlaib)
Right: Corporate media cover for Abdul El-Sayed spun a report on controversial September 11 posts into allegations of "overt racism" and an attack on CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss.

12 sources analyzed

Media Matters Mediaite Yahoo! Search Bizpac Review Common Dreams CNN AllSides Charlie Kirk Jezebel Yahoo! Search Fox News The Daily Beast

Perspectivity reads the coverage — not just who published it.

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