Bari Weiss Isn’t Capturing the Media. She’s Being Captured.

By taking the helm of CBS News, Bari Weiss is silencing herself. Yes, this is a counterintuitive way of viewing the most talked-about media executive of the year. Weiss’s suitability for the editor-in-chief role has been endlessly scrutinized since Paramount announced her $150 million “acquihire” less than two weeks ago. She earned a full episode of John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight. Concerning her first steps in the job, media reporters have left no stone unturned: every memo, every meeting, each sign of intervention in the news agenda has been closely documented.

Weiss has always positioned the Free Press, the publication she left the New York Times to launch, as the authentic voice of scrappy media outsiders. In a podcast for subscribers that announced the publication’s acquisition by CBS, Weiss meditated on the “alternative” roots of its success: “In retrospect, what the Free Press did is uncover an America hiding in plain sight…people who resist the warmth of political tribalism…people who want logic and wit, not conspiracy theories and demoralization.”

Critics might scoff at this self-serving description of the Free Press’s editorial direction. But whatever the Free Press was, or purported to be, it is something else now. Three months ago, it had the power to draw wealthy and powerful figures in the MAGA universe into its sphere of influence. As an independent voice hovering across left, center, and right, Weiss positioned herself as a “critical friend” to the powers in government who was still not beholden to them. Now, however, her voice is fully embedded within a corporate infrastructure that has ceded its independence to the Trump administration. Arguably, her influence may be quieted.

Two months ago, Joel Simon wrote an extensive piece for CJR on the chain of events that led to CBS News settling a lawsuit with President Trump. That capitulation of editorial independence appeared to clear the final hurdle for a merger between Paramount and Skydance, owned by David Ellison, son of Oracle cofounder and Trump mega-donor Larry Ellison. “Ultimately, the question of media capture at CBS is about the future of the network under its new owners now that the merger has been approved,” Simon wrote.