Bari Weiss to hitch CBS Information as Skydance buys The Free Press : NPR

CBS Information is planning to take one other step to attraction to right-of-center viewers by putting in Bari Weiss as editor in chief. CBS’ new company proprietor, Skydance Media, can be buying The Free Press, Weiss’ views-and-news website.

Weiss will arrive with a mandate to redefine the CBS Information model within the eyes of the general public and refine its information protection. She is seen as a change agent for a community recurrently accused by President Trump and his political allies of liberal bias.

Weiss based The Free Press after a blistering resignation from The New York Instances, the place she accused colleagues of intolerance. She has no expertise in broadcasting and seems unlikely to run CBS’ information division on a day-to-day foundation given the logistical calls for of TV information. The present president and government editor, Tom Cibrowski, a veteran broadcast information government, is staying on. The 2 might be offered to the newsroom as companions.

NPR interviewed eight present and former journalists at CBS Information for this story. A number of nonetheless on the community — talking on situation of anonymity as a result of the community didn’t authorize them to talk publicly — say they’re withholding judgment till they see whether or not Weiss gives perception and steering or begins issuing decrees with ideological intent.

Weiss’ job might be difficult, nevertheless, by the corporate’s intention to conduct network-wide layoffs this month of as much as 10% of the workforce, in accordance with two individuals with direct information. They spoke on situation of anonymity as a result of they weren’t approved to talk publicly on the matter.

Whereas the information division president is the titular head, CBS Information has a convention of strong-willed, independent-minded government producers stretching again to Edward Murrow’s collaborator Fred Pleasant and 60 Minutes creator Don Hewitt.

Weiss is taken into account sharp, savvy and entrepreneurial. She had been an opinion and guide critiques editor at The Wall Road Journal earlier than becoming a member of the New York Instances’ opinion part, the place she additionally wrote underneath her personal byline, usually taking a contrarian bent. When she left that paper in July 2020, it — like many newsrooms — was grappling with tensions over social justice. She denounced her former colleagues in a publicly posted letter to Instances Chairman and Writer A.G. Sulzberger, saying they bullied her and created what she stated was an “intolerant atmosphere.” On the time, the Instances responded by affirming a dedication to sincere dialogue and mutual respect amongst colleagues.

The Free Press has targeted on what it contends is a cancel tradition afflicting establishments throughout greater training and fashionable tradition. It made a splash final 12 months by publishing a crucial essay about NPR by Uri Berliner, then a senior enterprise editor on the public media community, and critiques of how mainstream information organizations are overlaying the Israel-Hamas struggle.

Whereas drawing help from many who accuse the mainstream media of being reflexively liberal, the positioning doesn’t blindly embrace Trump’s agenda. When the nation’s high broadcast regulator, Federal Communications Fee Chairman Brendan Carr, pressured ABC to “take motion” on Jimmy Kimmel, The Free Press cried foul on First Modification grounds.

Beneath the brand new plan, Weiss will proceed to run The Free Press as a standalone news-and-views website, sustaining its personal model and subscription mannequin. Exterior analysts say the acquisition determine seems excessive, however displays the worth that Skydance Media CEO David Ellison and his multibillionaire father Larry Ellison place on Weiss and her information website.

Since Skydance purchased CBS’ guardian firm Paramount in July, David Ellison has made clear that the community is pleasant to conservative views. His father, who’s the key monetary backer of Skydance and the Paramount deal, is the founding father of Oracle and a vocal Trump supporter.

But that buy was held up for months as CBS’ former proprietor negotiated a $16 million settlement with Trump. Simply earlier than final 12 months’s election, Trump sued CBS alleging {that a} 60 Minutes interview with Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris had been edited in an effort to make her seem extra articulate than she was.

Many authorized consultants had thought-about the lawsuit frivolous and CBS more likely to triumph in court docket. But Carr initiated a proper FCC assessment of CBS that bolstered Trump’s criticism, elevating the stress on the community and its house owners.

Earlier than the settlement, Cibrowski’s predecessor Wendy McMahon resigned, as did Invoice Owens, the longtime government producer of the community’s signature present, 60 Minutes. In a observe to employees, Owens stated he was now not allowed “to make impartial choices primarily based on what was proper for 60 Minutes, proper for the viewers.”

Earlier than finishing the acquisition, David Ellison made commitments to the FCC’s Carr to reshape Paramount, CBS and CBS Information. Skydance then employed Kenneth Weinstein, the previous president and chief government of the Hudson Institute, a conservative suppose tank, as CBS Information’ ombudsman to discipline complaints about information protection.

In approving the sale, the FCC stated Skydance had made written commitments to “root out the bias that has undermined belief within the nationwide information media” and “be certain that the brand new firm’s programming embodies a variety of viewpoints from throughout the political and ideological spectrum.”

Ellison is probably not accomplished increasing Skydance’s journalism portfolio. He’s reportedly getting ready a bid for Warner Brothers Discovery, which owns the cable information large CNN.