Paramount Skydance Director General David Ellison called the editor-in-chief of Bari Weiss CBS News as part of the purchase of the online site that she founded, Free Press.
The companies did not disclose the cost of the transaction in the announcement on Monday, although the source familiar with this issue said that it was for 150 million US dollars.
In the essay Monday transaction announcementThe 41 -year -old Weiss said that he gives “a chance to help change the legendary media organization -to help introduce CBS news into the future, which honors the great values that underlie the free press and the best American journalism.”
Weiss resigned as an author of opinions at New York Times in July 2020 in an open letter of 1,500 words, in which she described that she is the subject of “constant bullying” of colleagues who did not agree with her views.
In 2022, she founded her new media company on the credo of “honesty, perseverance and strict independence.”
In a letter to Paramount's employees on Monday, Ellison wrote that the company is a steward of one of the most iconic news organizations in the world.
“We challenge ourselves to achieve more success – recognizing that we have the ability to cover a wide audience and demonstrate a constructive, respectful and bicom -party dialogue in our own work,” he wrote.
“[Weiss] It brings a passion for the achievement of a wide audience through strict, based on reporting facts and tireless commitment to enhancing voices from all over the spectrum. ”
In a letter to CBS News employees, Weiss said CBS was part of her family tradition.
“Whenever I hear this tick, tick, tick or this fanfara pipe, she sends me right to our den in Pittsburgh,” Wais wrote in a letter seen by Reuters. “The opportunity to rely on this legacy with you is to update it in an era, which so desperately needs it – is an extraordinary privilege.”
Weiss said that she wanted to hear from staff at CBS News about what was working and what not, in order to make CBS News the most declared news organization in America. She promised to listen to with an “open mind, a fresh laptop and an urgent term.”
Online -free press Reutation
The free press has earned a reputation for challenging traditional narratives. Noteworthy articles include the first -person essay from the then Senior editor of the NPR, which accused the public radio network of liberal bias, which was worth the trust of his listeners.
Another proposed a story about the transgender center of the University of Washington at St. Louis Children's Hospital, who said that vulnerable teenagers with mental health problems were sent to treatment that changes their lives. Prosecutor General Missouri Andrew Bailey subsequently began the investigation in the center shortly after the publication of the work.
Nevertheless, this article and the subsequent article on this issue were fiercely refuted, including in the internal report of the university, which claimed claims in the mode. were unfoundedField
IN 2023 Essays in the journal Tablet MagazineWeiss advocated the dismantling of institutional diversity programs, justice and integration (DEI), writing that the movement “threatens not only Jews – but America itself.”
On the Internet, the reaction to her hire was mixed. Nicole Hannah-Jones, a reporter, illuminating racial injustice for New York Times magazine, wrote on Bluesskoye on Monday“If this is not clear, the crusade against Dei was never about merits. Zero News Experience. I have never been a reporter. High -rise to the editor -in -chief of CBS News, one of the most legendary news institutions in the country. ”
Weiss will obey David Ellison directly and will help establish an editorial course for CBS News. The evening news broadcast of the network is in third place for its television colleagues.
According to companies, Free Press, which contains about 1.5 million subscribers, including 170,000 participants, will remain independent, maintaining its brand and operations. The free press will continue to publish.
Pro-Trump Media owners
Large media and technological companies are currently controlled by supporters of US President Donald Trump or Liders -Milliarder, who lined up after him during his inauguration, donated his immigrant fund or visited the White House with gifts.
The son of a longtime supporter Trump Larry Ellison, David Ellison, helped to ensure the approval of the regulatory authorities for his Skydance Media to buy Paramount, with a promise that the CBS network will reflect the “diversity of points of view from all over the political and ideological spectrum”, according to the chairman of the federal Commission of the Brande Carr, announcing transaction.
Before the transaction, paramount Paid $ 16 million To resolve the lawsuit in 2024, Trump filed 60 minutes An interview with the presidential candidate from the Democrats of Kamala Harris, who, as he claimed, gave a distorted idea of his opponent for the White House.
FCC said that settlement and normative legal consideration were not connected.
