Ex-New York Times Writer Bari Weiss to direct CBS after Paramount deal

Paramount appointed the former New York Times opinion writer, Bari Weiss to direct CBS News, in the latest decision of new owners to reshape the operations of one of the main American press organizations.

Paramount also buys the free press, the digital point of sale that Weiss started after his acrimonious departure from the New York Times, in an agreement that was worth $ 150 million (112 million pounds sterling).

Ms. Weiss, who criticized Broadcast Media for having become too partisan, said that she was delighted to put her stamp on CBS, which was taken over by David Ellison earlier this year as part of a wider merger with Paramount.

The agreement made a meticulous examination on the left because Mr. Ellison is the son of the technological billionaire and the ally of Trump Larry Ellison.

Ms. Weiss, who started her career by working in Jewish media, is known for her support for Israel and her criticisms to “cancel culture”.

Since his departure as a newsletter in 2021, the Free Press has attracted 1.5 million subscribers, including more than 170,000 paying subscribers.

He drew attention to reports such as a critical NPR piece by one of his former commercial publishers, Uri Berliner, as well as a survey on certain photos used by the consumer media to illustrate famine in Gaza, which said that many of those who presented have undergone other health conditions.

The contributors of the big names include historian Niall Ferguson and the economist Tyler Cowen.

Ellison said that the appointment of Ms. Weiss as editor -in -chief was part of a greater effort to modernize the content in Paramount and make CBS the “most faithful name in the news”.

“We believe that the majority of the country aspires to balanced and based on facts, and we want CBS to be their house,” he said.

The terms of the agreement have not been disclosed. Paramount refused to comment on the reports according to which the company had paid $ 150 million in shares and in cash.

Mr. Ellison made his name as a producer of Hollywood blockbusters film such as Top Gun Maverick, True Grit and World War Z.

He said that his goal was to produce less biased politically biased and therefore has the ability to reach all audiences.

His takeover of Paramount was approved by the Trump administration this summer, after the company agreed to pay $ 16 million to settle a trial brought by Trump on a 60-minute interview with his presidential rival in 2024, Kamala Harris, he said he was deceptive for the benefit of the Democrats.

To win the approval of the agreement, Ellison agreed to install an independent mediator at CBS to examine complaints of biases and engaged in regulators that the programming would reflect a diversity of points of view.

He also said that CBS’s long -standing political program “Face The Nation” would no longer be published interviews.

CBS News has a partnership agreement with the BBC, which means that the content of the news, including video sequences, can be shared. BBC News is editorially independent of CBS.

In a note announcing the agreement, Ms. Weiss said she believed in Boss Paramount and her management team.

“They double because they believe in news. Because they have courage. Because they love this country. And because they understand, like us, that America cannot prosper without common fact, common truths and common reality,” she wrote.