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CBS News staffers have been chattering following a flurry of reports that Bari Weiss will be taking a top position at the network.
“Everyone is sending the articles around. Waiting to see how it will change — or if it will,” one CBS staffer told Fox News Digital.
Outlets like Puck News and the New York Post reported last Thursday that Paramount is set to announce that it has acquired Weiss’ publication The Free Press for $150 million and that Paramount’s new owner David Ellison will appoint Weiss to become the editor in chief of CBS News, where she will report directly to him — appearing to bypass CBS News President Tom Cibrowski, who currently reports to Paramount TV Media Chair George Cheeks.
“Everyone is waiting to see how things will fall. Nobody knows,” the staffer reacted.
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Bari Weiss speaks onstage during Book Club Event With Peggy Noonan on November 19, 2024 in New York City. (Noam Galai/Getty Images for The Free Press)
Ellison had been courting Weiss for several months, even before he took over as Paramount CEO in August following the company’s merger with Skydance Media. Weiss famously quit The New York Times in 2020 writing a scathing resignation letter in which she detailed bullying by colleagues in what she called an “illiberal environment.”
Weiss went on to launch the “Common Sense” newsletter in 2021 before rebranding it as The Free Press and expanding it into a full-fledged media company in 2022. Earlier this year, The Free Press touted having more than 155,000 paying subscribers, and Puck reported it was recently valued at $100 million.
“I think fresh ideas can’t hurt,” the CBS staffer said about Weiss joining the network. “I’m sure she has some, so let’s see.”
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Weiss, who built her brand around the notion that legacy outlets suffer from liberal groupthink, is sure to shake things up. Liberals have been incensed at the idea of Weiss being elevated to such a powerful position at CBS News. She has largely been ostracized by the cultural left for The Free Press’ reporting that challenges DEI, gender ideology and media narratives against Israel in its ongoing war with Hamas.
Paramount CEO David Ellison controls the newly formed company. (CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP via Getty Images)
The CBS News staffer isn’t very concerned about whether Weiss’ appointment will negatively impact the perception of CBS News, at least to the average viewer.
[With] people in the industry, maybe, but people at home most likely don’t have any idea who she is or what she does,” the staffer said. “At the end of the day, people watching at home pay our bills, not the people writing about it in the trades, so who actually knows how they’ll react.”
Representatives for Paramount and CBS News declined to comment.
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CBS News previously dismissed Hunter Biden’s laptop. (Erik McGregor/LightRocket)
Ellison is hoping to revitalize CBS News, which has been perpetually stuck in third place behind its rival morning and evening newscasts from ABC and NBC.
Weiss’ unprecedented ascension at CBS wouldn’t be the first time the Tiffany Network faced ire from the far-left. In July, liberal critics accused CBS and Paramount of bending the knee when it reached a multimillion-dollar settlement with President Donald Trump over its handling of the “60 Minutes” Kamala Harris interview. CBS reignited scorn when it announced days later that it was canceling “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.” Critics accused CBS of appeasing Trump while the network insisted it was purely a financial decision.
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