Paramount Nears a Deal to Buy Bari Weiss’s Free Press
Paramount is expected to announce a deal to buy The Free Press as early as Monday, uniting the storied CBS News division with an upstart digital publisher that has positioned itself as an alternative to old-line media institutions, according to three people briefed on the discussions between the companies.
Paramount is also expected to name Bari Weiss, a co-founder of The Free Press, as editor in chief of CBS News, the people said. In the newly created role, Ms. Weiss, 41, who began her career as an opinion writer and editor for magazines and newspapers, would wield enormous influence over one of the country’s largest broadcast news divisions and marquee shows like “60 Minutes.”
Related Knowledge Center: State of the business model
The traditional journalism business model has long since collapsed, and news organizations have shrunk or disappeared entirely. While a number of promising experiments are under way, the public has not shown a willingness to buy what news organizations are selling.