Bari Weiss named editor-in-chief of CBS News as Paramount buys Free Press startup

The CBS News owner Paramount will acquire the Free Press, a media startup founded by Bari Weiss, and has appointed her editor-in-chief of the storied US news network.

Weiss, 41, has no experience working in broadcast television, though she has carved out a reputation as a heterodox opinion writer and burgeoning media operator.

Known for her attacks on liberal institutions and “cancel culture”, Weiss founded the Free Press with her partner Nellie Bowles in 2021 after she left the New York Times as a columnist, claiming she was heavily scrutinized for her conservative views and criticism of the left at the paper.

On Monday, Weiss wrote in the Free Press: “As of today, I am editor-in-chief of CBS News, working with new colleagues on the programs that have impacted American culture for generations – shows like 60 Minutes and Sunday Morning – and shaping how millions of Americans read, listen, watch, and, most importantly, understand the news in the 21st century.”