The United States media conglomerate Paramount has announced a deal securing the acquisition of the commentary website Free Press and naming its founder, conservative media figure Bari Weiss, as the editor-in-chief of CBS News.
The appointment of Weiss, known for her pro-Israel positions and frequent criticism of “woke” politics, comes amid what critics have called an effort to steer CBS in a direction more aligned with the administration of President Donald Trump.
Paramount CEO David Ellison on Monday hailed Weiss’s “entrepreneurial drive and editorial vision”.
“This move is part of Paramount’s bigger vision to modernise content and the way it connects – directly and passionately – to audiences around the world,” Ellison said in a statement.
The latest moves follow a merger between Skydance Media and Paramount, which owns the CBS television network, completed in August. In Skydance’s regulatory bid to buy Paramount, the company promised the US government greater “viewpoint diversity” at CBS, according to a statement from Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr in July.
Before that approval, Paramount also agreed to pay $16m to settle a defamation lawsuit brought by Trump over a segment on the flagship CBS News programme, 60 Minutes. Media watchdogs widely criticised that suit as a baseless effort to pressure news outlets into more favourable coverage.
Ellison, to whom Weiss will report directly, is the son of tech businessman Larry Ellison, one of the richest men in the world and a close Trump ally.
Weiss founded The Free Press in 2022 after departing from The New York Times, where she had penned a letter saying she had been subjected to “constant bullying” by colleagues who disagreed with her views.
She has styled herself as a truth teller often at odds with US legacy media. Recent Free Press articles have taken on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programmes and scepticism over vaccines, both issues spearheaded by the Trump administration.
However, the publication has also been at odds with mainstream Republicans in some instances, including in its critical coverage of the party’s positions on abortion.
Weiss’s approach has attracted prominent backers, including venture capitalists Marc Andreessen and David Sacks, former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, and hedge fund tycoon Paul Marshall.
The Free Press has recently been criticised for its writing on Israel’s war in Gaza, including an article titled The Gaza Famine Myth, which questioned famine conditions in the enclave as a result of Israel’s blockade despite findings by the United Nations and medical groups.
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