Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison has named Bari Weiss editor-in-chief of CBS News, as part of a deal to acquire the online news site she founded, The Free Press.
The companies did not disclose the deal value in Monday’s announcement, although a source familiar with the matter said it was for $150 million US.
In an essay announcing the deal on Monday, Weiss, 41, said it provides “a chance to help reshape a storied media organization — to help guide CBS News into a future that honours those great values that underpin The Free Press and the best of American journalism.”
Weiss resigned as an opinion writer for the New York Times in July 2020 in a 1,500-word open letter in which she described being the subject of “constant bullying” by colleagues who disagreed with her views.
In 2022, she founded her new media company on a credo of “honesty, doggedness, and fierce independence.”
In a letter to Paramount employees on Monday, Ellison wrote that the company is a steward of one of the world’s most iconic news organizations.
“We are challenging ourselves to do better — recognizing that we have the ability to reach a broad audience and demonstrate constructive, respectful, and bipartisan dialogue in our own work,” he wrote.
“[Weiss] brings a passion for reaching broad audiences through rigorous, fact-based reporting and a relentless commitment to amplifying voices from all corners of the spectrum.”
In a letter to CBS News employees, Weiss said CBS was part of her family tradition growing up.
“Whenever I hear that tick, tick, tick or that trumpet fanfare, it sends me right back to our den in Pittsburgh,” Weiss wrote in the letter seen by Reuters. “The opportunity to build on that legacy with you — and to renew it in an era that so desperately needs it — is an extraordinary privilege.”
Weiss said she wanted to hear from the staff at CBS News about what’s working and what’s not, with the goal of making CBS News the most-trusted news organization in America. She promised to listen with “an open mind, a fresh notebook and an urgent deadline.”
Free Press’s online reputation
The Free Press has earned a reputation for challenging conventional narratives. Notable articles include a first-person essay from a then-senior editor at NPR who accused the public radio network of liberal bias that cost its listeners’ trust.
Another offered a whistleblower account of the Washington University Transgender Center at the St. Louis Children’s Hospital, which reported that vulnerable teenagers with mental health problems were rushed into life-altering treatments. Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey subsequently launched an investigation into the centre shortly after the piece was published.
That op-ed and a subsequent article on the subject were vehemently rebutted, however — including in an internal report from the university, which stated the claims in the op-ed were unsubstantiated.
In a 2023 essay in Tablet magazine, Weiss argued for the dismantling of institutional diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs, writing that the movement “threatens not just Jews — but America itself.”
Online, the reaction to her hiring has been mixed. Nikole Hannah-Jones, a reporter covering racial injustice for The New York Times Magazine, wrote on Bluesky on Monday: “In case it wasn’t clear, the anti-DEI crusade has never been about merit. Zero news experience. Never been a reporter. Elevated to Editor in Chief of CBS News, one of the most storied news institutions in the nation.”
Weiss will report directly to David Ellison and help set an editorial course for CBS News. The network’s evening news broadcast is in third place behind its television peers.
The Free Press, which has about 1.5 million subscribers including 170,000 paying members, will remain independent, retaining its brand and operations, the companies said. The Free Press will continue to publish.
Pro-Trump media owners
Major media and tech companies are now controlled by supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump or billionaire business leaders who lined up behind him during his inauguration, donated to his inaugural fund or visited the White House with gifts.
The son of longtime Trump supporter Larry Ellison, David Ellison helped secure regulatory approval for his company Skydance Media to buy Paramount, with the promise that the CBS network would reflect “a diversity of viewpoints from across the political and ideological spectrum,” according to a statement from Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr announcing the deal.
Prior to the deal, Paramount paid $16 million US to settle a 2024 lawsuit Trump filed over a 60 Minutes interview with Democrat presidential candidate Kamala Harris, which he claimed gave a distorted view of his rival for the White House.
The FCC has said the settlement and regulatory review were unrelated.
