In an unusual move, CBS News has set a town hall with Erika Kirk, the widow of late conservative activist Charlie Kirk and the leader of Turning Point USA.
The town hall itself is not unusual (Kirk has been doing a number of media interviews in recent weeks, including the culminating conversation at the New York Times‘ Dealbook Summit Wednesday evening). But what is unusual is that Bari Weiss, the editor-in-chief of CBS News, will be the one leading the conversation.
The town hall is set for Saturday, Dec. 13, preempting the 28th annual Family Film and TV Awards, which will now run Dec. 20.
“Like so many people around the world, I will never forget the moment that Erika Kirk forgave her husband’s killer,” said Weiss in a statement. “I am eager to speak to her—and thrilled to be doing so in front of a group of Americans who I know will elevate the conversation.”
Kirk took over Turning Point after her husband was assassinated while speaking at a college campus in September. It was at his memorial that she forgave the killer, telling the Times and CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin Wednesday that the moment came from the heart, and was not written in the prepared remarks.
“That was a gametime, second-to-second moment that was not pre-planned, because I’m not going to say something that I don’t truly believe,” Kirk said Wednesday.
Charlie Kirk rose to fame by building an audience through social platforms, acutely aware of the declining influence and relevance of traditional media outlets, CBS News included. In fact, it was that decline that sparked Paramount CEO David Ellison to acquire Weiss’ The Free Press and install her at CBS News.
“I am confident that, in the coming years, CBS News and The Free Press will make big strides and be at the forefront of a much-needed transformation in how news is gathered, reported, and delivered,” Ellison wrote at the time. “Our goal is to broaden our reach while solidifying our position as a leading voice in American journalism.”
It was a mission that Kirk led as well. Charlie “understood the importance of social media of how to reach a generation that was not paying attention to conventional news,” Erika Kirk said on Wednesday. “It’s the type of generation that is watching Tiktok and Instagram getting their news from influencers, not truly journalists.”
Weiss is cut from the same mold, which is perhaps why she is leading the town hall herself. The Guardian‘s Jeremy Barr first reported on the town hall.
