John Oliver took the opportunity on Sunday’s episode of “Last Week Tonight” to take a deep dive into opinion journalist and Free Press co-founder Bari Weiss, who is now the managing editor of CBS News.
CBS parent Paramount, which recently merged with David Ellison’s Skydance, announced last week that it would acquire Weiss’ Free Press and lead the station’s newsroom. The decision raised eyebrows because Weiss is known for his contrarian views and, as Oliver emphasized, doesn’t have much experience covering tough news.
“She has never run a television network, never directed a television report, and as one 60 Minutes producer pointed out, is not even a reporter, yet she is tasked with managing the editorial management of a large news organization,” Oliver said. “That’s true. She didn’t come through the news pages of the newspapers, but through the opinion pages. That’s something completely different.”
Mr. Oliver then analyzed his publication, Free Press, and said the magazine enforced the “obvious theme” that “the left has gone too far.”
“Basically, whatever issue you think is true, whether it’s Israel, campus politics, DEI, police reform, there’s going to be an article there that reinforces your opinion,” he said. “And look, I’m not saying the left never goes too far or is completely immune from criticism. But sometimes it feels like the free press’s conclusions can get ahead of the evidence. That leads us to the fact that some of its stories may be pretty poorly fact-checked and done in a way that seems important.”
“There are a lot of news organizations out there that value opinion,” Oliver said, including “Last Week Tonight,” but he acknowledged that his show “is not news.”
“I don’t want someone who used to lead a pure opinion news organization to suddenly run CBS News, even if it’s someone I happen to agree with,” he said. “But it’s particularly disturbing that it’s coming from someone who has spent years publishing work that is, in my opinion, irresponsible at best and deeply misleading at worst.”
Oliver then set his sights on Paramount Skydance CEO Ellison, who had also recently expressed interest in buying Warner Bros. Discovery, but it was reported over the weekend that his bid was rejected as too low.
“This is not just about Bari Weiss being at CBS, it’s about the fact that CBS is now under the control of someone she and her editorial sensibilities think is right for the job,” he said. “Who, by the way, is reportedly preparing a bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, the home of CNN and — oh — HBO. This isn’t ideal, I have to say, but if Bari’s favorite thing is to force difficult conversations that make her a little uncomfortable, maybe he’ll like this.”
“But the thing is, this is not just about Ellison. Again, he’s just the latest in a string of billionaires who have taken over our news organizations, from the Washington Post to the Los Angeles Times, and begun making alarming changes. And , whatever complaints I had with their coverage, and I had a lot of complaints, my solution would never have been this, because when these acquisitions are announced, it’s easy to think, “Well, great, there are others.” An outlet that is not under the influence of billionaires. ”And that’s true, because there’s always another one. Until it suddenly disappeared. ”
“We don’t know what’s going to happen next,” Oliver admitted, adding that Weiss could “completely reshape CBS News.”
“But it’s worth noting the subtle changes there. I’m sure many of the great journalists at CBS will continue to do a good job, but when you start seeing people resign or get fired, when you start seeing stories that don’t feel right in some way, especially when the left is going too far on the topics that Bari Weiss cares about, it’s worth asking yourself why that is,” Oliver concluded. “Unfortunately, the bigger answer may be that some billionaire has chosen to inject contrarian, right-leaning opinion journalism into an American symbol.”
Watch Oliver’s full segment below.
