People on the left are freaking out over the latest news concerning CBS.
According to reports, Paramount is about to ink a deal to buy Bari Weiss' media outlet, The Free Press, for $100 to $200 million. But that's not all.
They plan to hand her a senior editorial role to help steer CBS News as part of the deal, according to Puck.
Now that's amazing for a few reasons. Weiss went independent and started The Free Press in 2022. She did that after leaving the New York Times, where she had been an opinion editor. She blasted the paper for its illiberal attitude, for stifling diverse viewpoints, and abandoning the free exchange of ideas. She said she faced harassment from others at the paper for deviating from the orthodoxy, and was called a "Nazi." "Showing up for work as a centrist at an American newspaper should not require bravery," she declared.
Weiss has also been willing to call out progressivism - that apparently makes her bad.
Hiring someone who varies from the orthodoxy drives the left crazy. We saw how they lost it over Elon Musk taking over then-Twitter. They lost control of the X social media platform, and they were not happy. Now, if Weiss has a pivotal role directing CBS News, there may be another outlet that slips out of their control.
As my Townhall colleague Matt Vespa opined, all the right people were getting mad, so you know it's good.
Status newsletter author Oliver Darcy lamented the looming deal, calling the reported $100 to $200 million price tag an "absurd sum."
"David Ellison vowed not to politicize Paramount — yet his first big move at CBS News is a major bet on Bari Weiss, one of the most polarizing figures in media," Darcy began his newsletter Wednesday night. "Weiss, the stridently pro-Israel, proudly anti-'woke' culture warrior, has built her brand on polarizing political commentary — supposedly the type of material Ellison signaled to reporters that he wishes to run away from."
Darcy warned, "Handing Weiss the keys won’t broaden trust — it will further erode it among the people who actually watch the network, reinforcing suspicions about Ellison’s agenda. In effect, the move will set CBS News on a course to squander its hard-earned credibility with the audience that reveres its history and demands it stand unbowed to power."
Some CBS employees are also reportedly "apoplectic."
“Not happy AT ALL,” one person familiar with the mood inside CBS told Status News, adding that many journalists are bracing for impact.
Another insider warned that Weiss’ arrival would set off a firestorm, particularly over coverage of Israel and Gaza, saying some employees would be “apoplectic” at the prospect of taking editorial direction from her.
One prominent journalist outside CBS went even further, telling Status they would resign rather than work under Weiss, summing up the situation with a biting line: “Good night, and bad luck.”
How unhinged are they over this?
Leftist reporter Zaid Jailani commented on someone comparing her to Josef Goebbels, the Nazi propagandist, "I disagree with the comparison. Goebbels was much taller."
The Nation was upset.
Not our precious establishment media! No, no -
— Caitlin Flanagan (@CaitlinPacific) September 5, 2025
Forbid it, O almighty God!https://t.co/5G3EZXvFgi
The former Washington Post employee, Taylor Lorenz, also fell all over herself with a ridiculous take.
The right wing grift economy is undefeated https://t.co/bgwZ2v5BpP
— Taylor Lorenz (@TaylorLorenz) September 3, 2025
That's hilarious - Weiss is "polarizing" because she calls out the orthodoxy and is somehow "right-wing" because she might not be a partisan leftist. How dare she do that! And she deviates from the radical leftist position on Gaza. Oh, my! The meltdown reaction proves her point. And imagine Lorenz opining on grift. Weiss built what she has achieved; that's not grift, that's success.
Now, again, she's not right-wing. But if she can shake loose the stranglehold of liberal media at CBS, and advance the cause of a real exchange of ideas, that would be a great thing.
Editor's Note: The mainstream media continues to deflect, gaslight, spin, and lie about President Trump, his administration, and conservatives.
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