Paramount is close to clinching an acquisition of the The Free Press that will include a top role at CBS News for the site’s founder, Bari Weiss.
The deal, which has been rumored for months, would be a major transaction for Paramount under the new ownership of Skydance and its CEO, David Ellison. It could be announced as soon as Monday, according to a source.
Weiss would take on the role of editor-in-chief at CBS News, according to news reports.
A former opinion writer at The New York Times, Weiss has been known for her provocative opinion and analysis pieces, particularly those that have taken on what she and others have seen as the excesses of the “woke” left and efforts to sideline conservative voices.
The Free Press leans into essays and commentary and some reporting, such as a piece this week on a woman detained for deportation as she sought an application for a green card. But the site is heavy in a point of view, with recent stories such as “Curtis Sliwa can save New York” and “My favorite actress is not human.” That’s a contrast to the breaking-news driven approach of CBS News.com, its streaming offerings and its evening newscast.
If the deal happens, it’s unclear what kind of day-to-day operational role Weiss would have at a global news organization given her lack of experience in the broadcast network ranks.
It’s also unclear what a major role for Weiss would mean for Tom Cibrowski, the president and executive editor of CBS News, who took the reins of the division in February after the abrupt departure of Adrienne Roark. Cibrowski is a seasoned producer from Good Morning America and CBS’ previous incarnation of its morning program, The Early Show. The news reports said Weiss would report to directly Ellison, while Cibrowski reports to George Cheeks, chair of TV media at Paramount.
The news division has already gone through significant disruption in its leadership ranks, but Weiss’ potential appointment has drawn speculation that it would be part of an effort to move the news division rightward. As part of the FCC’s approval of the Skydance-Paramount merger, Ellison agreed to install an ombudsman. In September, Paramount selected Kenneth R. Weinstein, former president and CEO of the Hudson Institute, a right-leaning D.C. think tank, in that role.
The day the Skydance deal closed to purchase Paramount, Ellison praised CBS News and its “legacy of impactful journalism” and said he looked “forward to continuing to foster a newsroom culture where journalists are empowered, trusted, and equipped to do their best work.” He also visited the news division and 60 Minutes, which found itself at the center of Skydance’s effort to secure Trump administration approval for the Paramount transaction. Paramount reached a $16 million settlement of a lawsuit that Trump brought against CBS over the news magazine’s editing of an interview with Kamala Harris, litigation the network and many legal experts found baseless.
CBS Mornings and the CBS Evening News remain in third place but its flagship newsmagazine, 60 Minutes, remains one of the most watched shows on television, drawing just over 10 million viewers in its season premiere, per Nielsen. That made it the most viewed non-football show for the week. Through the years, the network has invested heavily in CBS News 24/7, its streaming channels, while it has tried to integrate the operations of national newsgathering and the newsrooms of the locally owned stations.
Speaking to reporters in August, Ellison suggested that there was a way to expand the audience, but he indicated that it was by putting more emphasis on neutral reporting. He said “we want to be in the trust business. We want to be in the truth business. We want to be in the facts business. We really want to look at the 70% of the country that kind of would define themselves as center left to center right, and really ensure that it’s a place that can be true to the legacy that we’re inheriting, and we’re going to invest behind that.”
“I don’t want to politicize our company in any way, shape or form. We want to speak to the broadest audience possible,” he said.
Paramount and CBS News officials have had no comment. A rep for The Free Press did not return a request for comment.
The New York Post and Puck first reported the pending deal.
