Liberals slam reviews Bari Weiss might lead editorial overhaul at CBS Information

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Liberals are up in arms over reviews that unbiased journalist Bari Weiss is eyeing a high position at CBS Information as the brand new Paramount chief is inching nearer to placing a serious cope with her.

Puck Information reported Wednesday that Paramount CEO David Ellison, who simply took over the corporate final month following his $8 billion merger with Skydance, is on the "one-yard line" together with his plans to purchase Weiss' on-line publication The Free Press and appoint her to a high editorial place on the struggling broadcast community.

Weiss, a classical liberal who famously exited The New York Occasions in 2020 after dealing with bullying by far-left colleagues, has largely been ostracized by the cultural left for The Free Press' reporting that challenges DEI, gender ideology and media narratives in opposition to Israel throughout its ongoing struggle with Hamas.

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New Paramount proprietor David Ellison is reportedly on the "one-yard line" in placing a cope with Bari Weiss, involving a multi-million buyout of The Free Press and giving her a distinguished place at CBS Information. (Charly Triballeau/AFP by way of Getty Photographs; James Leynse/Corbis by way of Getty Photographs; Noam Galai/Getty Photographs for The Free Press)

Standing publication creator Oliver Darcy lamented the looming deal, calling the reported $100 to 200 million price ticket an "absurd sum."

"David Ellison vowed to not politicize Paramount—but his first large transfer at CBS Information is a serious wager on Bari Weiss, one of the vital polarizing figures in media," Darcy started his publication Wednesday evening. "Weiss, the stridently pro-Israel, proudly anti-'woke' tradition warrior, has constructed her model on polarizing political commentary—supposedly the kind of materials Ellison signaled to reporters that he needs to run away from."

Darcy warned, "Handing Weiss the keys gained’t broaden belief—it's going to additional erode it among the many individuals who truly watch the community, reinforcing suspicions about Ellison’s agenda. In impact, the transfer will set CBS Information on a course to squander its hard-earned credibility with the viewers that reveres its historical past and calls for it stand unbowed to energy."

HuffPost equally branded Weiss the "polarizing editor of The Free Press" in its report and mentioned the pending acquisition "presents a preview of how Ellison, the son of a top Trump ally , intends to form CBS Information transferring ahead." Salon referred to Weiss as "the polarizing editor and founding father of conservative outlet The Free Press" and known as her a "controversial determine."

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The far-left journal The Nation revealed a bit with a headline decrying "Vile Grifters Are Taking Over Institution Media."

"If we lived in a much less horrible time and place, Weiss could be dismissed as a crank and a bigot, and by no means heard from once more. However we dwell within the waking nightmare that's america in 2025. So as a substitute, Weiss is being rewarded with a prize that even she should suppose is sort of wild. That prize? CBS Information," The Nation senior editor Jack Mirkinson wrote Thursday, calling the deal "disturbing."

"No matter CBS Information presently is, it isn’t just a few hate manufacturing unit pumping out shoddy propaganda 24/7. However now it’s being shipped over to one of many main hateful propagandists of our time," he wrote, later including, "I hope that CBS Information staffers resist this try to destroy their office with the whole lot they've. I hope that Weiss’s tenure atop CBS is brief and failed. However principally, I hope that at some point we dwell in a world the place individuals like Weiss are handled with the contempt they deserve and are hurled into the cultural wilderness the place they belong."

Liberals are enraged following reviews that The Free Press founder Bari Weiss might be given a high position at CBS Information. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Occasions by way of Getty Photographs)

Whereas conservatives and critics of the legacy media have largely welcomed the thought of Weiss main a CBS overhaul, liberals and anti-Israel commentators slammed the transfer on social media.

"The fitting wing grift financial system is undefeated," ex-Washington Publish reporter Taylor Lorenz reacted.

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"lastly! a professional israel voice in mainstream media!" progressive Twitch character Hasan Piker sarcastically exclaimed.

"CBS about to change into your go-to information supply on keffiyeh-wearing school college students, how wokeness is the defining disaster of our instances, no matter trans youngsters are as much as, and no matter that is," liberal author Jil Filipovic mentioned whereas sharing a screenshot of a Free Press op-ed penned by conservative commentator Ben Shapiro.

"I do not hate the Free Press and I feel Bari Weiss positively has a lane. I frankly suppose it was a mistake to let her go from the Occasions - there's positively a requirement for anti-woke center-right individuals on the op/ed pages. However that lane shouldn't be working CBS Information (!)," Flipovic added.

Bari Weiss famously stop The New York Occasions with a scathing resignation letter through which she detailed bullying by then colleagues in an "intolerant atmosphere." (Getty Photographs/Bari Weiss)

CBS and Paramount declined to remark. The Free Press did not reply to a request for remark.

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Joseph A. Wulfsohn is a media reporter for Fox Information Digital. Story suggestions may be despatched to joseph.wulfsohn@fox.com and on Twitter: @JosephWulfsohn.