CBS News To Name Bari Weiss Editor-In-Chief, Signaling Change Of Direction

Paramount Skydance will officially acquire Bari Weiss' The Free Press and name her editor-in-chief of its CBS News division for around $150 million.

Dylan Byers of Puck News says the company will make the acquisition official on Monday.

The proposed merger between Paramount and Skydance closed last month, forming the new media and entertainment conglomerate headed by Skydance CEO David Ellison. The deal with Weiss is Ellison's first in what is expected to be a series of changes to the CBS News division.

Weiss will report directly to Ellison.

Bari Weiss was a key figure in the Substack boom around 2020, when a group of influential liberal journalists left mainstream media for independence. Weiss, Glenn Greenwald, and Matt Taibbi were among the most prominent participants in this trend.

Weiss, who was previously an editor at the New York Times, later renamed her Substack newsletter The Free Press. Like Greenwald and Taibbi, Weiss now aligns more closely with the moderate right than the establishment left, which polling suggests has continued to shift further away from the median voter since 2020.

There's a case that Weiss is currently the most influential journalist in the United States. I'd make that case.

WASHINGTON, DC - The Free Press' Honestly with Bari Weiss (L) hosts Amy Chua (R) presented by Uber and X on January 18, 2025.  (Photo by Leigh Vogel/Getty Images for Uber, X and The Free Press)

Ellison’s naming of Weiss editor-in-chief is consistent with the industry-wide belief that he will strive to bring CBS News back toward the middle, away from its Boomer-focused liberal elite ethos of the past eight years. Weiss will also give CBS News much-needed cachet within the Zoomer demographic.

And other changes should follow. The network's flagship "60 Minutes" program continues to face credibility issues following a year of blunders, lawsuits, and propagandist features. CBS News also lacks a clear face of the company, following Norah O'Donnell's demotion and Margaret Brennan's off-putting tone on Sundays.

In the evenings, CBS has fallen well behind ABC and NBC with John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois sharing anchor duties. Had you heard from Dickerson and DuBois? Neither have we.

This week, veteran media reporter Bernard Goldberg reported that Megyn Kelly met with CBS News for a "screen test."  Uh, screen test? While such a hire would be a coup for Ellison, Goldberg's information was not accurate.

"This is all literally made up. Not one word is true. And thank you to the commenters who said why would she need a screen test. Hello," Kelly said in a tweet.

Other recent moves by Paramount Skydance include a seven-year agreement with the UFC, a rights deal with Dana White's new boxing league, and the cancellation of the "Late Show with Stephen Colbert."

Ellison has set a tone.

Let us know your thoughts at robert.burack@outkick.com or on X at @burackbobby_.