Washington Post: Bari Weiss to be named top editor at CBS News

The newly formed media giant Paramount Skydance will acquire the Free Press, an online publication, and install its iconoclastic founder, Bari Weiss, as editor in chief of CBS News, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Paramount Skydance is expected to announce Monday that it will pay $150 million in cash and stock for the Free Press and name Weiss to CBS News’ top editorial job, said one of the people, both of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the plans before they are formally announced.

The move heralds a new era at the 98-year-old broadcast network, whose corporate parents made moves to address the Trump administration’s allegations of liberal bias as they sought approval for an $8 billion merger that was finalized in August. The appointment of Weiss, a staunch advocate of Israel and frequent critic of the mainstream media, to lead the company’s news operation follows its hiring last month of a conservative-leaning ombudsman to field complaints about the network’s editorial coverage.

Weiss, whose background is in opinion journalism and commentary, has no experience working at a broadcast television network. Hired by the New York Times’ opinions section in 2017 as part of a push to bring more conservative voices onto its pages after Trump’s election, she resigned in 2020, saying she had been “bullied” by liberal colleagues for her views.