These rumors have been floating around for a while, and now they’re verified: The Free Press has been bought by Paramount, of which CBS television is the flagship property, though apparently the website is to remain unaltered. (Remember, the kids may read the Internet but they do NOT watch CBS!)
The Free Press (“TFP”) is of course a website, founded by Bari Weiss when she found that she could not write what she wanted at the New York Times. And the site has been wildly successful, morphing into a more centrist version of the NYT, and printing things that wouldn’t appear in the MSM: works by, for example, Coleman Hughes, Uri Berliner, Abigail Shrier, Jon Haidt, and Matti Friedman. And there are more personal takes that are unique to the site, e.g., Nellie Bowles’s “TGIF” features, Shrier’s pieces on gender and the “therapization” of modern youth, and Berliner’s indictment of National Public Radio. I’m glad to subscribe, but now, given this announcement (click on screenshot below), I’m worried that the website won’t be nearly as engaging. We are told not to worry about that.
A few excerpts from Bari’s piece (my bolding):
We’re a news organization, so I’ll get right to it: This morning, The Free Press is joining Paramount.
This move is a testament to many things: The Free Press team; the vision of Paramount’s new leaders; the luck of starting an independent media company at the right moment; and the courage of my colleagues to leave behind old worlds to build a new one.
But, above all, it’s a testament to you, our subscribers.
From day one, the promise—and the business proposition—of this publication was simple: We would marry the quality of the old world to the freedom of the new. We would seek the truth and tell it plainly. And we would treat readers like adults capable of making their own choices.
So many people told us this was no longer possible. That the premise of a media company built on trust rather than partisanship was, at best, a relic from the past—and, at worst, a fantasy that never was. That the internet killed journalism. That there simply weren’t enough Americans out there in search of media driven by honesty, independence, and integrity.
You proved them wrong. You demonstrated that there’s a market for honest journalism. And you’ve given us a mandate to pursue that mission from an even bigger platform.
I’ll continue to lead this incredible community alongside my tireless team, remaining CEO and editor-in-chief. But I’ll be taking on another title, too.
As of today, I am editor-in-chief of CBS News, working with new colleagues on the programs that have impacted American culture for generations—shows like 60 Minutes and Sunday Morning—and shaping how millions of Americans read, listen, watch, and, most importantly, understand the news in the 21st century.
. . . If you have been here from the start, you might have questions. Wasn’t The Free Press started precisely because the old media institutions had failed? Isn’t the whole premise of this publication that we need to build anew? Why flee The New York Times only to head back into another legacy institution?
If the illiberalism of our institutions has been the story of the last decade, we now face a different form of illiberalism emanating from our fringes. On the one hand, an America-loathing far left. On the other, a history-erasing far right. These extremes do not represent the majority of the country, but they have increasing power in our politics, our culture, and our media ecosystem.
Overlooked by all these so-called interlocutors are the enormous numbers of smart, politically mixed, pragmatic Americans. The people who believe, unapologetically, in the American project.
This is the actual mainstream. These people are the overwhelming majority of the country. And they are being ill-served.
As proud as we are of the 1.5 million subscribers who have joined under the banner of The Free Press—and we are astonished at that number—this is a country with 340 million people. We want our work to reach more of them, as quickly as possible.
This once-in-a-lifetime opportunity allows us to do that. It gives The Free Press a chance to help reshape a storied media organization—to help guide CBS News into a future that honors those great values that underpin The Free Press and the best of American journalism. And in doing so, to bring our mission to millions of people.
. . .So on a practical level, what does this news mean for your Free Press subscription? Two words: more and better.
Our subscribers will still get the daily journalism they rely on: investigative reports, features, columns, podcasts, and more. And The Free Press, which will remain independent, will be growing even faster within Paramount. We’ll be investing heavily in this community, and so many of the things we’ve long dreamed about will become possible much more quickly.
What does this mean for CBS News? It means a redoubled commitment to great journalism. It means building on a storied legacy—and bringing that historic newsroom into 2025 and beyond. Most of all, it means working tirelessly to make sure CBS News is the most trusted news organization in the world.
I’m betting that the subscription price will go up, though, with the infusion of cash from Paramount, there’s really no reason for it to rise. We’ll see. And given that TFP will be part of the Paramount venture, how can it remain independent? Will Bari Weiss still be connected with both CBS News and TFP? If so, it cannot be independent.
As far as the slant of CBS News will change, I have no idea. My regular station is NBC News, which shows signs of wokeness—but signs that aren’t pervasive enough to disturb me. How will CBS News change? I do like 60 Minutes when I watch it, and can’t think of any real bias there. How will that show change? And will we get to see Free Press writers like Shrier and Hughes on television?
So congrats to TFP, which has finally attained the ultimate power over at least one MSM venue. I can’t help but worry about a few things, but hey, that’s me.
Bravo. CBS has some excellent talent underneath the dinosaurs anchoring the programs and managing the news division. Broadcast is way different than written or spoken word, so Bari needs to appreciate the influence of producers.
Bari, (and others) have the brains to make CBS News watchable and readable again. We’ll see if she and Ellison have the balls to make it better or if the change of leadership is nothing more than changing nameplates and making Bari wealthy.
This will be a real test to see if the legacy media can be saved from itself.
I kinda like the dinosaurs John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois who do the Evening News. JAC, give them a try.
The reference to “dinosaurs” surely is not indulging in ageism, eh? (Not everyone makes it to dinosaur age, whatever that is. I reasonably gather that only “the younger set” is worthy to define it.)
Give me those (at least what passed for then as) “normie” (ugh! a favorite Bari locution, I notice) dinosaurs Cronkite, Sevareid, Murrow, Troutman, Mudd, Reasoner, Huntley, Brinkley, Smith, Reynolds, Jennings et al who made news watchable and readable (and listenable), and felt no need to indulge in “infotainment” with execrable and fatuous music and graphics assaulting the senses.
But, apparently “infotainment” is inescapably necessary nowadays, what with the increasingly “Bread and Circuses” short attention-spanned and smartphone social media algorithm-addled American populace.
“Show” dinosaur. Don’t “tell” dinosaur.
On the one hand, an America-loathing far left. On the other, a history-erasing far right.
Huh? What “history-erasing” is she claiming?
Some of the bad bits of American history? (Or claims like the Nazis weren’t really that bad. I don’t know what people like Tucker Carlson emits these days.)
Do you have examples of these?
Oh I think it is pretty common knowledge C.S.
HA! Just tune in to Tucker Carlson, some of Joe Rogan’s guests (spectacularly stupid “comedian” David Green) or… Candace Owens. They’re HUGE, multiples of CBS which I’m surprised is even an ongoing enterprise these days.
Right wing idiocy isn’t hard to track down, regrettably.
best
D.A.
“Huh? What “history-erasing” is she claiming?”
Here’s one: The far-right Gospel is that collusion between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russian operatives is “A Hoax”.
The Muller report documented over 100 contacts. I can’t think of a single ethical reason for any contact between a US Presidential campaign and Russian operatives.
And, lest we forget:
“President Donald Trump publicly called on Russia to find and release Hillary Clinton’s missing emails during a press conference on July 27, 2016, and Russian hackers began targeting Clinton-related email accounts on or around the same day. The hacking efforts, conducted by Russian military intelligence, led to the theft and subsequent release of thousands of emails through platforms like WikiLeaks, which the U.S. intelligence community concluded was part of a broader Russian operation to interfere in the 2016 election.” [Perplexity AI]
Don’t forget the astonishing re-writing of the events of Jan 6.
Let me quote from a Democrat (Jeffrey Tobin) in The Hill “CNN’s Toobin: ‘Total vindication of the president’ on collusion”
I’ve been watching this and waiting to see what happens. A couple pre-reports indicated that she would report directly to the CEO of Paramount, rather than to the President of CBS. I haven’t seen any stories confirming that now that the role is official. I think we have to assume that Weiss is going into this with eyes wide open. It will be interesting to see the reaction across the CBS news organization.
It’ll be interesting to watch CBS News and affiliated programs become more like Fox News.
This isn’t good news. Bari Weiss (I don’t like her) doesn’t have the background to take up this position. Murrow and Cronkite would not be pleased. Oh well. It looks like conservatives have won the day (for now).
Why?
I just got this announcement in my e-mail. I am hopeful that this will bring balanced news coverage to CBS (which, in my view, hasn’t been as bad as some of the others). This is an interesting development and could be the beginning of a turnaround for the mainstream media—a move away from propaganda and indoctrination and a move toward balanced news reporting. Hope springs eternal!*
*I do hope that Bari Weiss leaves the pro-religion stuff behind, however.
“Why flee The New York Times only to head back into another legacy institution?”
Probably because she’s getting a dump truck full of cash to do it.
I recall an interview with her where she was describing how much she made when she was a writer at the NYT. I was shocked at how low it was…it seemed barely able to cover cost of living in the city. That’s years of basically living paycheck to paycheck with no ability to save or invest for retirement.
I know she’s made a bit of money from The Free Press but the package she was offered for the buyout and the new role must be such that she will never have to worry about money again.
I’m sure that she also negotiated for solid editorial control of the newsroom. We’ll see how this plays out.
Colbert gone. Weiss in.
60 Minutes, formerly a bastion of non-partisan investigative journalism, has lost key staff, who resigned this year because of CBS interference in the program’s investigations (to gain favor with Trump and settle one of his frivolous lawsuits). I fear that neutral journalism is not the real goal of CBS these days.
I fear you’re right.
When I was a teen some of my friends were swimmers and lifeguards. One of the first moves they learned as lifeguard trainees was how to break free of a drowning person who frantically grabs the lifeguard in open water and risks killing them both. I hope Bari Weiss has that move in her pocket.
Yep I remember that and before even getting into that situation, the basic rule was self-preservation..two deaths are worse than one…so: reach, throw, row, and, only as a last resort, go.
As a dive master, when I was trained I was told that if someone is panicking and trying to climb on top of you (that’s what they try to do), to just dive. They won’t follow you and you can resurface nearby and try again.
That’s excellent advice!
I very much liked Bari Weiss when she called out the left for antisemitism and her strong anti-woke sensibilities that led to her leaving nyt and working incredibly hard to create TFP. I subscribed and was happy with her editorial slant for awhile until I thought she was expanding too fast and getting sloppy with verification and validation. Somewhere between her keeping the “it escaped from a lab” Sars Cov2 bullshit in play and her support of religion and god articles, (and a couple of other things I cannot recall right now), I lost confidence in what she was teeing up for me to read and learn from. So I dropped my subscription. Most recently it seems that she has promulgated the silly ufo hearings and the nothingburger of what is likely a simple flight targeting experiment as possible “aliens” (the kind from outer space, not foreign countries!). Sheeesh. Anyway, I am glad for her as a hardworking entrepreneur to make good money…it looks like the usual process I recall of a big payout for control of your property in concert with giving you a big executive title for a year with a nice salary, after which either you are fed up with them or they are fed up with you and you leave to enjoy your windfall or create another company, rinse and repeat as a serial entrepreneur. So congrats to Bari. My hope is that she re-centers herself on the issues surrounding Israel and antisemitism and writes again as an independent voice now pro bono (per our host on WEIT).
PS. I would be happy to pay for Nellie to do 52 weekly TGIF’s a year on a substack. I will pay for humor.
Well, I’m skeptical, but hopeful. TFP is a place where you are likely (but not always) to find pieces worth reading. Some comedy, some thoughtful pieces from Olde Fartes about how to age well (I need those), interviews with some of the brightest and most heterodox thinkers of our time; most interesting, most of the time. Overall, an excellent website. They do seem a bit too god-soaked sometimes, and they give voice to some poor writers from time to time. But mostly it is what journalism pretends to be.
We’ll see if it’s real or (more likely) a facade. Corporations are like religion and politics; mix them with anything -ANYTHING AT ALL- and the thing will be ruined. I wish them the very best.
Here’s a New York Times write-up:
How Bari Weiss Won. New York Times, Oct 6, 2025
At The Free Press, she battled “wokeness” and buddied up with billionaires. Now she’s the editor in chief of CBS News.
https://archive.ph/HsWLR
So they put “wokeness”, which is a real thing, in scare quotes and suggest that she sold out.
Nice to see that the NYT isn’t bitter…
I am not a paying subscriber, but I get to read the articles, but not to add a comment. I do not find them centrist. They are definitely well to the right. The worst aspect are the comments. Their commenters are extremely pro Trump, irrational, and full of bile towards “libs”. I can’t spend too much time reading the comments as it is depressing. I wonder if Ms. Weiss and her team ever consider what type of non- thinker they are appealing to.
This website is, quite literally, the only website where I read comments. I never read them anywhere else; if the internet is a sewer (and it is) the comment sections on internet sites are where the most foul, rotten, and disgusting content can be found. It’s always that way. Comments almost always come from angry people and, given the abysmal education, intelligence, decency, and kindness of the average internet denizen, it is no surprise that TFP comment section – like all comment sections save WEIT (if htere are others I am unaware of them).
As to whether their articles tend “well to the right”, well, that sort of depends on where you stand. I do think it isn’t infested like most MSM with the woke disease, but neither is it place for your typical MAGA-hatter snot-nose rants either.
I find the comment section mostly bad. They’re 90% hard core MAGA.
100% agreement. I refer to the comments sections of most articles as FPchan.
I haven’t read enough TFP content to know if their centre of gravity is to the right, but even if it didn’t start off that way I suspect it has been pulled in that direction by its subscribers. I suspect Bari Weiss is pretty much a classical liberal, and early on it seemed the site would reflect that, but I’ve also noticed that most of the comments were agreeing with the anti-woke slant from a hard-right position, whatever the beliefs of the authors of the piece they were commenting on. It makes for a rather uncomfortable juxtaposition.
A pretty funny take by Jesse Singal in which he asks a hypothetical young progressive NYT staffer from June 2020 whether s/he thinks things worked out as planned after they hounded Bari Weiss from her job. The subtitle says it all: “I haven’t checked, but I assume she now has less influence than ever.”
https://jessesingal.substack.com/p/congratulations-on-getting-bari-weiss
I had high hopes for the FP (along with Stephen Pinker*). I have been a paid subscriber since they began soliciting subscribers. (I have to be very careful in allocating my subscription dollars, as a retiree. I am an ur-subscriber with Sam Harris. As I’ve told Jerry, I’d be happy to pay a subscription to WEIT.)
I have found that the FP has become MAGA-lite as well. Every week, I consider dropping my subscription. I don’t care for the more glitzy, short-attention-span format of their website. (Their original format was much better IMO, though it probably didn’t generate as much revenue.)
They do have some left-leaning voices, though they are rare now. As I noted above in the comments, I end up being unable to read the comment sections most of the time and I refer to them as FPchan. MAGA-lite. Or perhaps MAGA-slightly-more-POlite. I started reading it as antidote to the wokeness so evident in the MSM from 2020 on. So I don’t expect a lefty site, obviously. (I really do want to live in an idea-lab, not an echo-chamber.)
But the smugness displayed these days is off-putting. And the apologetics for Trump’s craziness and illegal actions of the last 9 months are beginning to smell very rotten. Trump’s illegal and highly-questionable actions of the second administration are a target-rich environment for investigative reporting. (When Trump-drunk-fan-girl, Batya Ungar-Sargon wrote an article awhile back lambasting Gavin Newsom about alleged lies, I very nearly hit the cancel button. My comment on the article was, “Trump fan-girl discovers that lying is bad!”.) Where are you, FP? I think they are still distracted by the woke bogeyman (I’m as anti-woke as you please; but that doesn’t provide cover for Trump).
(* Pinker: “[T]he Free Press (for which I had high hopes) has ‘descended into MAGA-lite.’ Yes, PC-SJW-Critical-Woke-Intersectionality is bad, but some perspective, please: Blowing up the international order, sucking up to autocrats, wrecking the world economy, sowing doubt about vaccines, spreading medical quackery, strangling lifesaving foreign aid, pardoning violent rioters, preventing data collection, spewing nonstop lies, & extorting the press, law firms, and universities is worse.” on X, 13-Apr-2025)
I’ve been irritated by the pro-religion (doesn’t seem to matter which, just get one!) aspects, and having the FP rejoin the mainstream is the final straw for me. I cancelled. Like you, I’m retired and have to be careful with subscriptions. I cancelled Quillette too, but they drew me back with a half-price offer.
I don’t find it perfect, but reporting from The Free Press (and from Bari Weiss herself) strikes me as more balanced and rigorous than most mainstream media. At least it used to be, perhaps too Trump-adjacent at the moment.
Yet, according to an article in The Guardian, CBS staff reacted to Weiss’s appointment with the following comments:
• “Utterly depressing”
• “A throwing-up emoji is not enough to reflect the feelings in here.”
• “She is the last person who should be brought in to CBS.”
• “I’m pessimistic and skeptical.”
Now, if that’s not the reaction of people working in a woke environment, I don’t know what is.
The Guardian, of course, describes Weiss as “controversial” and as someone who “carved out a reputation as a provocative opinion writer and burgeoning media operator.”
Bari Weiss was deeply complementary of Mirai Nagasu. Of course, she was wrong in one respect. Mirai Nagasu is not an immgrant. For her compliments she was ‘rewarded’ with a tidal wave of left-wing hate.
If I mistakenly referred to a notable Canadian citizen as an immigrant, I wouldn’t apologize either. Being an immigrant is not a pejorative, so apologizing for the mistake beyond correcting it would make it sound as if I had some grudge against accomplished immigrants. “Sorry for thinking you were one of those furriners.” Even allowing someone to infer, “Who’d a thunk that an native-born Canadian could accomplish what you people do,” sounds patronizing. Not taking that bait.