In the summer of 2021, producers of “The View” cast Widenet after Meghan McCain’s exit to find a co-host for token conservatives. Bari Weiss, who guest-hosted several episodes of the panel show and made waves on her released news outlet The Free Press, wanted a job. But Weiss did not test well with an audience who didn’t understand her centrist right-hand politics. In fact, her focus group score was so low that she was not invited to the guest host, according to insiders. Instead, Alyssa Fara Griffin, former Trump White House director of Strategic Communication, landed the gig.
Refusal turns out to be a blessing for Weiss. Instead of playing the sixth fiddle on a show consumed by middle-class resistance moms, the two 41-year-old mothers are one of the most powerful women in the news. On October 6th, Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison announced that the media conglomerate has acquired Free Press for $150 million and has appointed CBS News Weiss Editor. If Ellison and his father, technology archaeologist Larry Ellison, recited their wishes and bought Warner Bros., they could have had CNN as part of her festival if they awakened anti-awakening and positioned themselves as a billionaire whisperer during the Biden administration, a former New York Times opinion writer and editor.
Naturally, the wide range of CBS News staff members are incredibly incredible. With vocal support from Israeli Weiss, a set of parents under the age of 35. Elderly News veterans are seeing the cor crown as part of the Ellisons’ continued surrender to Trump when CBS News settled the president’s defamation lawsuit for $16 million and the Federal Communications Commission resolved the defamation lawsuit with the president, as if the paramount skidance lawsuit was resolved. (Larry Ellison is a regular at the White House and Mar Lago.) However, Weiss is not loved by the upstream world of Maga. Notable conservative conservatives scoffed at the idea that Weiss was one of them, noting that the White House continues to deny the Free Press qualification.
Still, Weiss has a strong desire to be in front of the camera. Sources say she is discussing that she has a role on camera, although not “60 minutes” during negotiations. Both Weiss and Ellison declined to comment on the story.
“She plays for an audience of 200,” says the Hollywood executive with connections with Weiss. “The audience is made up of people like Jeff Bezos and Bill Ackman. The super-rich shit loves her. She’s funny, she’s smart and she’s in line with their politics.”
The former colleague is mixed in Weiss’ ratings.
“Bali is a thoughtful and creative leader who is deeply committed to the historical ideals of journalism, integrity, stubbornness and intense independence,” says Alex Chitty, who worked with Weiss in the Free Press. “The journalistic institution is fortunate to be in charge of her.”
However, another former colleague is not impressed with her pivot.
“She’s stakes the system and billionaires are funding her career,” says a colleague who worked with Weiss during her time with the New York Times. “She has never traditionally worked in the newsroom the way she goes. It just feels like cheating.”
Paul Friedman, a former top executive at both ABC News and CBS News, says his former colleagues are “terrifying” about Weiss’s prospects for governance.
“She’s very frank about her views. She said something I can’t imagine myself screaming out about someone running in the news department,” Friedman said. “We hope that means she said that she wants to ensure fair and balanced journalism. But there’s little reason to want that based on her records, based on Paramount’s actions that settle false lawsuits against CBS News and reduce ’60 minutes.”
Some insiders were frightened by another kind of bias in CBS News before Weiss’ arrival, and noted how the “CBS Morning” anchor to nee doc file was handled. Senior Network executives denounced Dokoupil in front of staff in an interview with author Ta-Nehisi Coates, accusing him of not following the network’s editorial norms. The incident would not have publicly surfaced if the Free Press had not been obtained and part of the audio was made public from an internal meeting.
“The Tony incident is exactly why people like Bali were brought in,” says a representative with several CBS news clients.
Some have suggested that the Ellisons overpayed for the free press. But a year ago, the outlet was valued at $100 million after a $15 million funding round. While many of the supporters remain anonymous, known investors include Mark Andreesen, David Sachs, Paul Marshall, Howard Schultz and Allen & Company.
Whether Weiss is hobnobbing in Sun Valley or flying privately, friends say she projects an atmosphere of belonging. She attends Bezos’ wedding and counts Bill Maher and Kim Kardashian among her friends.
“She’s crazy charismatic. She generally doesn’t develop politics much when you talk interpersonally,” says Hollywood executive. “(But now Paramount) has a political agenda, and I feel it’s even more so than Fox under Rupert Murdoch.”
Last year, Weiss was uprooted from Los Angeles with his wife, New York Times alumnus Nelly Bowles and his children to New York. As her visibility grew, so did Free Press’ WME team, including Ari Greenburg’s president. (But WME did not play a role in Weiss’ CBS news trading.) Weiss began to cut $150,000 per engagement.
“Obviously, if she’s dressed in this place, she’s great,” says the former colleague. “But it’s all about dealing with Bali.”
Brent Lang contributed to this report.
