There are a lot of methods to interpret Bari Weiss’ elevation to editor in chief of CBS Information — a formidable title that also doesn’t fairly seize her affect, contemplating she’ll report on to David Ellison, chairman of Paramount and son of the billionaire Oracle co-founder.
One may, in fact, be jealous. She’s 41, has no conventional broadcast expertise, and by some means persuaded Paramount to purchase her startup, the Free Press, for a cool $150 million. Not since AOL purchased HuffPost for $315 million has there been a extra spectacular case of optimism in a brand new media Midas.
Weiss’ profession trajectory has been nothing in need of meteoric. Columbia grad. Former flame of Kate McKinnon of “Saturday Evening Dwell” fame. By the point she was in her mid-30s, she had been op-ed editor for each the Wall Road Journal and the New York Instances — again when legacy media jobs had been nonetheless coveted and extremely prestigious.
Then, she stop the N.Y. Instances in a high-profile huff, citing “bullying by colleagues” and an “intolerant setting” — and nearly instantly landed on her toes by launching the Free Press, a form of digital salon for the heterodox and excommunicated. The outlet is now reportedly pulling $15 million in annual subscription income from readers who assume being instructed “you may’t say that” is the final word oppression.
Predictably, some stodgy, ink-stained CBS veterans are lower than thrilled about her arrival. Are you able to blame them? Think about working someplace for 20 years, solely to be instructed your new boss is somebody who made a profession and a fortune telling everybody that individuals like you’re the downside.
So, sure, envy and workplace politics clarify a part of the flap over her lofty new place. However there’s a darker nook of the web the place Weiss’ very identification is handled like a smoking gun for a conspiracy principle.
You could find the same old on-line antisemitic posters muttering a couple of “Jewish billionaire” (Larry Ellison) hiring a “pro-Israel propagandist” (Weiss).
It’s the form of deranged commentary that reminds you the web was a mistake.
Past the jealousy and bigotry, although, there are two extra grounded, but competing, theories about what Weiss’ elevation really means.
The primary, let’s name it a Sinister Concept, is that Ellison — Trump pal, yacht proprietor, informal technocrat — is attempting to seize the final crumbling bastions of mainstream media for the Trump regime. On this state of affairs, Weiss is another domino in a slow-moving authoritarian takeover.
The Bulwark’s Jonathan V. Final calls Weiss’ elevation “a preposterous rent that is smart for one purpose: The Ellisons imagine it’s going to purchase them good will with the Trump administration.” Translation: CBS is about to develop into Newsmax, however with higher lighting.
If one subscribes to this premise, Weiss’ hiring could possibly be seen as a part of Trump’s plan to colonize or destroy the mainstream media. This marketing campaign has concerned suing shops, banning the Related Press from information occasions, putting in Trump allies (together with Larry Ellison) to run TikTok, siccing the Federal Communications Fee on Jimmy Kimmel, and so on.
The opposite principle is much less sinister, however nonetheless miserable. Let’s name it the Reconciliation Gambit.
In keeping with this principle, the previous liberal monoculture drove itself right into a ditch with its bias and sanctimony, alienating everybody who didn’t personal a hybrid or declare their pronouns, and now desperately needs again within the cultural dialog.
Weiss’ job is to convey stability and variety to a biased media outlet — and woo again a few of Center America.
This would possibly sound naive, however Weiss isn’t some torch-carrying Trumpist. Her hometown Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle editorialized in 2020: “Weiss is a real centrist. She is anti-Trump and in favor of repealing the Second Modification, however she additionally sticks up for Israel, condemns anti-Semitism wherever it lurks and criticizes the progressive left for its penchant for ‘cancel tradition.’”
In a column saying the transfer to Paramount, Weiss promised to “assist reshape a storied media group,” invoking “the nice values that underpin The Free Press and the most effective of American journalism.”
It’s truthful to ask whether or not “reshaping” legacy media is feasible, even for somebody as bold and sensible as Weiss. Making an attempt to avoid wasting CBS Information in 2025 appears like attempting to relaunch a pay cellphone enterprise.
Nonetheless, Weiss isn’t threatening to burn down the mainstream media, however fairly, promising to revive its glory. And so, Weiss, exiled prodigy of the op-ed web page, is each an emblem and an experiment. A take a look at of whether or not the previous cathedral might be saved by a brand new priest.
The most important unknown, in fact, is her motive, as a result of her expertise is plain.
In a number of quick years, Weiss has gone from being probably the most reviled individual on the New York Instances to probably the most highly effective individual at CBS Information. If she plans to convey that very same magic to her new function, I’m undecided I’d guess towards her.
Matt Ok. Lewis is the writer of “Filthy Wealthy Politicians” and “Too Dumb to Fail.”
