CBS News names pro-Israel commentator Bari Weiss as new head

American journalist Bari Weiss, a noted critic of alleged bias at mainstream media outlets, was named Monday as editor-in-chief of CBS News following the buyout of the storied news organization's parent company, Paramount, by Skydance.

Controversy has surrounded the merger, which was approved by US regulators this summer after Paramount agreed to a $16 million settlement with Trump over a lawsuit the CBS-owner previously lambasted as meritless.

Skydance CEO David Ellison, son of Larry Ellison -- the Oracle founder and one of the world's wealthiest people -- announced Weiss's appointment in a press release, as well as the purchase of her independent news outlet, The Free Press.

US media reported Skydance would pay $150 million for The Free Press, founded by Weiss following her acrimonious 2020 departure from The New York Times and which has since grown to over a million subscribers on the Substack newsletter platform.

"Bari is a proven champion of independent, principled journalism, and I am confident her entrepreneurial drive and editorial vision will invigorate CBS News," Ellison said.

In late 2022, Weiss was among three independent journalists handpicked by Elon Musk to analyze internal files regarding content moderation at Twitter following his purchase of the social media site.

Media critics will be closely watching her tenure atop CBS News, as Trump openly pressures networks to be less critical of his administration.

In September, the president praised a move by ABC to suspend late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, a Trump critic, following the comedian's remarks on the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

The suspension, which was lifted a few days later, came just hours after Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr threatened ABC with legal action if Kimmel was kept on air.

Carr, a close Trump ally, also announced in July that as part of the Paramount-Skydance merger the companies agreed to "make significant changes" at CBS, including committing to programming that "embodies a diversity of viewpoints from across the political and ideological spectrum." 

Who is Bari Weiss?

She is pro-choice, proudly pro-Israel, and believes in gay marriage "so much so that I’m actually in one myself."

But she also believes that mandatory school lockdowns during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic were "a big mistake" and that people should be hired based on merit.

As a sophomore at Columbia University, she was a member of a group of Jewish students who complained they were intimidated by pro-Palestinian professors for their views.

The university convened a panel to investigate the allegations, but found only one instance of unacceptable behavior.

Early in her career, Weiss worked as a senior editor at Tablet, an online magazine of Jewish life, before joining the Wall Street Journal in 2013.

She spent four years as an op-ed and book review editor, leaving after encountering resistance to political op-ed pieces that were viewed as "too anti-Trump," she told Reason magazine.

Weiss joined the New York Times as a staff editor and writer in the opinion section in 2017 to expand the ideological range of the opinion staff during Trump’s first term, according to an account in the Times.

Weiss, 41, harshly criticized the Times when she resigned as an opinion writer and editor in July 2020, accusing the premiere US news outlet of having an "illiberal environment" biased toward social justice activists.

She complained about a culture of intolerance in an open letter of resignation addressed to publisher A.G. Sulzberger, in which she said she was "the subject of constant bullying by colleagues who disagree with my views."

The move won praise from conservatives who have long accused mainstream media outlets of having a liberal bias, as well as from tech industry leaders who were becoming increasingly outspoken against what they claimed were attacks on free speech amid the coronavirus pandemic and rising racial justice movement.

Weiss described the experience as a whipsaw-like transition, going from "being the most progressive person at the Wall Street Journal to being the most right-winged person at the New York Times."

Weiss launched a newsletter initially called Common Sense, which would evolve into The Free Press. The publication now tops Substack's US politics rankings. 

The Free Press has come under fire for its reporting on Israel’s two-year assault on Gaza, notably for publishing an article titled 'The Gaza Famine Myth', which cast doubt on widespread reports of famine caused by Israel’s blockade- despite evidence from the UN and humanitarian groups.

The media platform also collaborated with Uber and Elon Musk’s X to host an event attended by prominent figures, including US Republican Senator Ted Cruz, controversial Irish UFC fighter Conor McGregor, and former British Prime Minister Liz Truss.

Audience 'wants to be told the truth'

In a 2022 interview with the Hoover Institution, Weiss described her target audience as the "exhausted, self-silencing majority" who reject the binary political views of Fox News and MSNBC.

In the interview, she said she believed there was a "huge" audience "that wants to be told the truth, even when it's inconvenient to them," adding that people want to understand "the world as it actually is, because that's how you make actual decisions about where to move, how to raise your family, where your kids go to school, what to invest in."

In 2023, Weiss called for dismantling institutional diversity, equity and inclusion programs, writing that the movement "threatens not just Jews—but America itself."

Last month, The Free Press published an interview with a medical expert who said he does not believe vaccines cause autism but that "the scientific establishment blindly defending the U.S. vaccine schedule is incorrect."

Weiss' fierce independence has attracted prominent backers including venture capitalists Marc Andreessen and David Sacks, former Starbucks chief executive Howard Schultz, and hedge fund tycoon Paul Marshall. A $15 million funding round in 2024 valued The Free Press at $100 million.

The company has expanded beyond its newsletter to include podcasts such as its flagship Honestly with Bari Weiss and live events.

Whether Weiss's curiosity can coexist with the demands of a legacy broadcast network—with its union contracts, regulatory obligations, and shrinking but still substantial audience—is the question that will define her tenure.

She's built a career on challenging institutions from the outside. Now she'll have to run one from within.