Bari Weiss’ appointment as editor-in-chief of CBS News triggered an online uproar Monday from liberal journalists and media figures.
Weiss, a classic liberal who famously quit The New York Times in 2020 after denouncing what she called its "illiberal environment," later launched independent media company The Free Press in 2022.
She was named editor-in-chief of CBS News Monday after Paramount announced it had acquired The Free Press for $150 million.
Weiss has been criticized by some on the cultural left for The Free Press' reporting that challenges DEI, gender ideology and media narratives against Israel in its ongoing war with Hamas.
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Bari Weiss speaks at a Los Angeles event in September 2023. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Liberal media commentators and journalists were incensed by Weiss’ elevation to the powerful position and took to social media to claim she was unqualified for the role and that her editorial leadership would undermine CBS News’ credibility.
In a post on Bluesky, MSNBC host Chris Hayes compared Weiss to Vice President JD Vance, saying, "Bari Weiss and JD Vance are very similar figures with very similar skills."
Media Matters deputy director of rapid response Andrew Lawrence mocked Weiss in another Bluesky post: "I’m Glenn Greenwald. I’m Kyle Rittenhouse. I’m an AI-generated talking pepe meme. I’m Bari Weiss, all those stories tonight on ‘60 Minutes.’"
New York Times columnist Jamelle Bouie bashed her promotion as "a Hall of Fame grift," writing, "Five years ago Bari Weiss was trying, unsuccessfully, to get herself fired. Now she’s running CBS News. That’s some Michael Jordan s---."
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Bari Weiss announced on Monday that she is officially editor-in-chief of CBS News. (Leigh Vogel/Getty Images for Uber, X and The Free Press)
"Anyway, looking forward to Bari Weiss restoring ‘trust in news’ where ‘trust in news’ means pumping out propaganda for your oligarch boss," he added in another post.
HuffPost deputy editor Phil Lewis argued the hire would cement "the rightward shift of media’s most storied newsrooms," while left-leaning culture blog Defector mocked CBS’ decision, calling it a step into a "Vichy era."
In a scathing post, Defector staffer Patrick Redford wrote that The Free Press "only punches down and to the left" and slammed Weiss as having "a cop’s heart and a tadpole’s brain."
Left-leaning Slate Magazine similarly predicted that Weiss's takeover would be "a disaster."
"Weiss has built a career railing against ‘wokeness,’ and her critics fear this could mean a CBS News more sympathetic to her causes: more unconditional support of Israel, more antagonism wielded at "the left," and more Crossfire-style 'debates' over common bugbears like Zohran Mamdani and gender-affirming care," writer Nitish Pahwa warned.
New Paramount owner David Ellison agreed to a deal with Bari Weiss and The Free Press. (Charly Triballeau/AFP via Getty Images; James Leynse/Corbis via Getty Images; Noam Galai/Getty Images for The Free Press)
Within CBS News, some employees reportedly reacted with dismay and anxiety about Weiss’ arrival. A reporter told The Independent, "People are using words like depressing and doomsday — feels like some sort of doomsday."
Reports of the deal first surfaced last month through Puck News, sparking fury from liberal journalists.
Status newsletter author Oliver Darcy, formerly of CNN, lamented the looming deal, warning that it would "further erode" trust in CBS News among its viewership.
"David Ellison vowed not to politicize Paramount — yet his first big move at CBS News is a major bet on Bari Weiss, one of the most polarizing figures in media," Darcy began his newsletter Wednesday night. "Weiss, the stridently pro-Israel, proudly anti-'woke' culture warrior, has built her brand on polarizing political commentary — supposedly the type of material Ellison signaled to reporters that he wishes to run away from."
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CBS News signage ahead of the first vice presidential debate at the CBS Broadcast Center in New York, on Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
HuffPost similarly branded Weiss the "polarizing editor of The Free Press" in its report and said the pending acquisition "offers a preview of how Ellison, the son of a top Trump ally, intends to shape CBS News moving forward."
She joins CBS at a time of upheaval in both the network and the broader media industry, which has weathered controversies surrounding "60 Minutes" and the cancellation of "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert."
Paramount CEO David Ellison pledged that Weiss’ "entrepreneurial drive and editorial vision will invigorate CBS News."
"This is an important initiative for our company, and Bari will report directly to me — leading the work of The Free Press and collaborating with our CBS News team in the pursuit of making it the most trusted name in news," Ellison said in a statement. "We believe the majority of the country longs for news that is balanced and fact-based, and we want CBS to be their home."
Fox News Digital has reached out to Weiss for comment.
Fox News’ Brian Flood and Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report.