CBS News is expected to drift further to the right after the outlet’s parent company announced on Monday that anti-woke reactionary writer Bari Weiss would be taking on the role of editor-in-chief.
Paramount, the parent company of CBS, said it had acquired Weiss’ right-leaning news site, The Free Press. Weiss, a former New York Times and Wall Street Journal columnist who has for years presented herself as a warrior against pro-equality “woke” politics, was somehow described by Paramount as someone who would steer CBS toward fact-based journalism.
Weiss’ Free Press, which is hosted on the newsletter platform Substack, has spent the past few years on a crusade against transgender people, dressing up content meant to undermine transgender rights as purportedly objective journalism.
The Free Press also promoted lies about the police murder of George Floyd, as a way to discredit the movement for racial justice that began after the 2020 incident.
Similarly, when far-right billionaire Elon Musk bought Twitter and chose to release embarrassing internal communications from the previous management—whom he accused of being too “woke”—the Free Press was one of the preferred outlets for his campaign.
The CBS Broadcast Center in New York City, shown in 2023.
Weiss herself was involved in an embarrassing gaffe while she was a columnist for The New York Times. In 2018, she cited a hoax Twitter account as part of an article criticizing the “antifa” movement.
Weiss was also critical of the Me Too movement, which was meant to hold men accountable for sexual harassment, misogyny, and other sexist behavior.
The installation of Weiss at CBS News follows several other moves to the right.
Most notably, in July, Paramount paid off President Donald Trump with a $16 million settlement. Legal experts had said Trump’s suit against CBS was frivolous, but Paramount wanted federal approval of its merger with Skydance.
CBS also announced in July that it would be canceling “The Late Show,” which is hosted by comedian Stephen Colbert, a high-profile Trump critic.
Soon after both actions, the Trump administration approved the corporate merger.
CBS’ management has shifted right in tandem with these moves, as the father-and-son duo of Larry and David Ellison have taken over control of Paramount. Larry Ellison has been a Republican Party donor.
CBS once distinguished itself as a leading source of American journalism. It was on CBS that famed anchor Edward R. Murrow called out the shameful right-wing tactics of Sen. Joseph McCarthy, and it was on CBS that Walter Cronkite questioned the futility of the Vietnam War.
Now CBS has become just another cog in a vast right-wing propaganda machine.
