The Free Press co-founder Bari Weiss will supervise a debate show modeled after her outlet’s streams tackling hot-button issues, The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.
Paramount announced on Monday that it had acquired The Free Press and that Weiss would be CBS News’ editor-in-chief. Weiss and Paramount CEO David Ellison told the WSJ that they were in agreement on prioritizing “news that reflects reality” and journalism that “doesn’t seek to demonize, but seeks to understand.”
WATCH:
An announcement from @BariWeiss: The Free Press is joining Paramount.
Read more: https://t.co/tFH1mA3t4F pic.twitter.com/3PIlAh6gNc
— The Free Press (@TheFP) October 6, 2025
The New York Times’ Michael Grynbaum posted a letter on X that he said Weiss sent to every CBS News employee on Monday.
“What I can tell you on day one is that I stand for the same core journalistic values that have defined this profession since the beginning, and I will continue to champion them alongside you,” she wrote before listing some of the principles, including “[j]ournalism that holds both American political parties to equal scrutiny.”
Ellison also stressed that he wanted CBS News to be fair, his outlet reported.
“Bari will report directly to me – leading the work of The Free Press and collaborating with our CBS News team in the pursuit of making it the most trusted name in news,” he said. “We believe the majority of the country longs for news that is balanced and fact-based, and we want CBS to be their home.”
The Free Press will keep its independence and persist in producing content for its subscribers, according to CBS News.
Social media posts on Friday showed left-wing journalists and public figures expressing anger ahead of the official announcement of Weiss’ appointment, griping about her pro-Israel stance and failure to adhere to far-left ideologies.
“CBS News is naming Bari Weiss Editor in Chief, which will make CBS News useless,” The Young Turks’ Cenk Uygur wrote on X. “She is indisputably biased towards Israel. In fact, that’s why she was hired. According to @nypost, ‘Weiss’s strong pro-Israel stance is one of the factors that is said to have appealed to [Paramount SkyDance Corporation CEO] David Ellison.”
Weiss, CBS News and Paramount did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation.
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact [email protected].
