Acquisition

Paramount announced Monday it acquired The Free Press, the digital media startup founded by Bari Weiss, and appointed Weiss as editor-in-chief of CBS News.

Context

CBS News, the storied network behind programs like “60 Minutes” and “CBS Sunday Morning,” has struggled in recent years, consistently placing third behind ABC and NBC in viewership ratings.

At the peak of 2020’s social justice movement, Weiss – a New York Times columnist – resigned after publishing an open letter that accused the paper of being leftist, close-minded, and toxic. In 2021, she founded The Free Press, originally branded as Common Sense, as an anti-woke and independent media brand to rival legacy outlets like the Times.

Acquisition Details

On Monday, Paramount announced that it had acquired The Free Press for approximately $150M in cash and stock, placing Weiss in charge of editorial decisions at CBS News. While having no experience in broadcast television, Weiss has grown The Free Press to 1.5M readers, including over 170,000 paying subscribers. Weiss will report directly to Paramount CEO David Ellison while working alongside CBS News’ president. The Free Press will continue operating independently within Paramount, with Weiss remaining as its editor-in-chief.

The deal comes roughly two months after Paramount – through a $28B merger with Skydance Media – came under the control of David Ellison, son of cloud computing mogul and Oracle founder Larry Ellison.

CBS Vision

Ellison said the combination would create “one of the most trusted destinations for news in this country,” targeting the 70% of Americans who identify as center-left to center-right. Weiss outlined core journalistic values she plans to champion, including journalism that “reports on the world as it actually is” and “embraces a wide spectrum of views and voices.” CBS News plans to launch a debate-style program similar to debates that The Free Press currently streams on a variety of topics.

Industry Reactions

The appointment comes after significant upheaval at CBS News, including Paramount’s $16M settlement with President Trump over a “60 Minutes” interview and the recent departures of two top executives. Some CBS News employees view the move as taking the network in a more conservative or opinionated direction, while others see it as necessary innovation for a struggling broadcast news division.