By Dawn Chmielewski and Helen Coster LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison has named Bari Weiss editor-in-chief of CBS News, the news division of U.S. broadcaster CBS, as part of a deal to acquire the online news site she founded, The Free Press. The appointment is seen as Ellison's bet that Weiss, a successful entrepreneur and outsider with billionaire connections, can modernize and turn around the powerful but third-placed broadcast news network. The companies did not disclose the deal value in Monday's announcement. A source familiar with the matter said it was for $150 million. In an essay announcing the transaction on Monday, Weiss, 41, said the deal provides "a chance to help reshape a storied media organization—to help guide CBS News into a future that honors those great values that underpin The Free Press and the best of American journalism." Ellison, the son of Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, took over the CBS network and other Paramount properties earlier this year when his company Skydance Media merged with Paramount Global in a $8.4 billion deal. He helped secure regulatory approval for the deal with the promise that the CBS network would reflect "a diversity of viewpoints from across the political and ideological spectrum." Monday's announcement capped months of talks between Ellison and Weiss. The newly minted media baron first floated the idea at July's Allen & Co conference in Sun Valley, a frequent staging ground for major media mergers, according to media reports. Weiss previously worked in the opinion sections of the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, describing herself as the most right-wing person at the Times and the most politically progressive at the Journal. Defying easy characterization, she has been critical of diversity initiatives, defended gay marriage, supported reproductive rights, and described herself as proudly pro-Israel. She resigned as opinion writer for the Times in July 2020, in a 1,500-word open letter in which she said she had been the subject of "constant bullying" by colleagues who disagreed with her views. She went on to launch an independent media company, The Free Press, which she began as a newsletter in 2021. FROM NEW YORK TIMES TO START-UP, AND BACK TO LEGACY MEDIA In 2022, she wrote that The Free Press was founded on a credo of "honesty, doggedness, and fierce independence." In a letter to Paramount employees on Monday, Ellison wrote that the company is a steward of one of the world's most iconic news organizations. “We are challenging ourselves to do better – recognizing that we have the ability to reach a broad audience and demonstrate constructive, respectful, and bipartisan dialogue in our own work,” he wrote. Weiss “brings a passion for reaching broad audiences through rigorous, fact-based reporting and a relentless commitment to amplifying voices from all corners of the spectrum,” he wrote. In a letter to CBS News employees, Weiss said that CBS was part of her family tradition. "Whenever I hear that tick, tick, tick or that trumpet fanfare, it sends me right back to our den in Pittsburgh," Weiss wrote in the letter seen by Reuters. "The opportunity to build on that legacy with you — and to renew it in an era that so desperately needs it — is an extraordinary privilege." Weiss said she wanted to hear from the staff at CBS News about what was working and what was not, with the goal of making CBS News the most-trusted news organization in America. She promised to listen with "an open mind, a fresh notebook and an urgent deadline." The clock is ticking for the traditional nightly newscast, whose audience is dwindling in an era of instant access to information online and on social media. The "CBS Evening News" show attracts an average of nearly 3.8 million viewers, fewer than its broadcast rivals, according to the most recent Nielsen data. "Bari Weiss runs a small passionate team that truly understands how to build a brand and engage their followers," said LightShed Partners media analyst Richard Greenfield. "CBS News outside of '60 Minutes' does not mean much to the average consumer in 2025. (It) will be fascinating to see if and how Bari can change that." FREE PRESS CHALLENGES CONVENTIONAL NARRATIVES The Free Press has earned a reputation for challenging conventional narratives. Notable articles include a first-person essay from a then-senior editor at NPR, who accused the public radio network of liberal bias that cost it listeners' trust. Another offered a whistleblower account of the Washington University Transgender Center at the St. Louis Children's Hospital, which reported vulnerable teenagers with mental health problems rushed into life-altering treatments. In a 2023 essay in Tablet magazine, Weiss argued for the dismantling of institutional diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, writing that the movement "threatens not just Jews— but America itself." The reaction to her hiring has been mixed. Judy Marie Muller, a former correspondent for CBS and ABC News, and a professor emerita of journalism at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, called Weiss’ appointment a “sad shift.” "We can say what we want coming in — yes, let's stick to these high standards — and then we'll just see what happens," said Muller. "I think we have to watch what she does, not what she says." Weiss had never been a reporter and had "zero news experience," said Nikole Hannah-Jones, a reporter covering racial injustice for The New York Times Magazine. Weiss will report directly to David Ellison and help set an editorial course for CBS News. The Free Press, which has about 1.5 million subscribers including 170,000 paying members, will remain independent, retaining its brand and operations, and will continue to publish, the companies said. Prior to the Paramount-Skydance deal being cleared, Paramount paid $16 million to settle a 2024 lawsuit filed by U.S. President Donald Trump. The Federal Communications Commission has said the settlement and regulatory review were unrelated. (Reporting by Dawn Chmielewski in Los Angeles and Helen Coster in New York, Aditya Soni and Jaspreet Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila, Nick Zieminski and Rosalba O'Brien)
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