What to read into Bari Weiss’ elevation to lead CBS News

There are many ways to interpret Bari Weiss’ elevation to editor in chief of CBS News — an impressive title that still doesn’t quite capture her influence, considering she’ll report directly to David Ellison, chairman of Paramount and son of the billionaire Oracle co-founder.

One could, of course, be jealous. She’s 41, has no traditional broadcast experience, and somehow persuaded Paramount to buy her startup, the Free Press, for a cool $150 million. Not since AOL bought HuffPost for $315 million has there been a more spectacular case of optimism in a new media Midas.

Weiss’ career trajectory has been nothing short of meteoric. Columbia grad. Former flame of Kate McKinnon of “Saturday Night Live” fame. By the time she was in her mid-30s, she had been op-ed editor for both the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times — back when legacy media jobs were still coveted and highly prestigious.

Then, she quit the N.Y. Times in a high-profile huff, citing “bullying by colleagues” and an “illiberal environment” — and almost immediately landed on her feet by launching the Free Press, a kind of digital salon for the heterodox and excommunicated. The outlet is now reportedly pulling $15 million in annual subscription revenue from readers who think being told “you can’t say that” is the ultimate oppression.

Predictably, some stodgy, ink-stained CBS veterans are less than thrilled about her arrival. Can you blame them? Imagine working somewhere for 20 years, only to be told your new boss is someone who made a career and a fortune telling everyone that people like you are the problem.

So, yes, envy and office politics explain part of the flap over her lofty new position. But there’s a darker corner of the internet where Weiss’ very identity is treated like a smoking gun for a conspiracy theory.

You can find the usual online antisemitic posters muttering about a “Jewish billionaire” (Larry Ellison) hiring a “pro-Israel propagandist” (Weiss).

It’s the kind of deranged commentary that reminds you the internet was a mistake.

Beyond the jealousy and bigotry, though, there are two more grounded, yet competing, theories about what Weiss’ elevation actually means.

The first, let’s call it a Sinister Theory, is that Ellison — Trump pal, yacht owner, casual technocrat — is trying to capture the last crumbling bastions of mainstream media for the Trump regime. In this scenario, Weiss is one more domino in a slow-moving authoritarian takeover.

The Bulwark’s Jonathan V. Last calls Weiss’ elevation “a preposterous hire that makes sense for one reason: The Ellisons believe it will buy them good will with the Trump administration.” Translation: CBS is about to become Newsmax, but with better lighting.

If one subscribes to this premise, Weiss’ hiring could be seen as part of Trump’s plan to colonize or destroy the mainstream media. This campaign has involved suing outlets, banning the Associated Press from news events, installing Trump allies (including Larry Ellison) to run TikTok, siccing the Federal Communications Commission on Jimmy Kimmel, etc.

The other theory is less sinister, but still depressing. Let’s call it the Reconciliation Gambit.

According to this theory, the old liberal monoculture drove itself into a ditch with its bias and sanctimony, alienating everyone who didn’t own a hybrid or declare their pronouns, and now desperately wants back in the cultural conversation.

Weiss’ job is to bring balance and diversity to a biased media outlet — and woo back some of Middle America.

This might sound naive, but Weiss isn’t some torch-carrying Trumpist. Her hometown Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle editorialized in 2020: “Weiss is a true centrist. She is anti-Trump and in favor of repealing the Second Amendment, but she also sticks up for Israel, condemns anti-Semitism wherever it lurks and criticizes the progressive left for its penchant for ‘cancel culture.’”

In a column announcing the move to Paramount, Weiss promised to “help reshape a storied media organization,” invoking “the great values that underpin The Free Press and the best of American journalism.”

It’s fair to ask whether “reshaping” legacy media is possible, even for someone as ambitious and smart as Weiss. Trying to save CBS News in 2025 feels like trying to relaunch a pay phone business.

Still, Weiss isn’t threatening to burn down the mainstream media, but rather, promising to restore its glory. And so, Weiss, exiled prodigy of the op-ed page, is both a symbol and an experiment. A test of whether the old cathedral can be saved by a new priest.

The biggest unknown, of course, is her motive, because her talent is undeniable.

In a few short years, Weiss has gone from being the most reviled person at the New York Times to the most powerful person at CBS News. If she plans to bring that same magic to her new role, I’m not sure I’d bet against her.

Matt K. Lewis is the author of “Filthy Rich Politicians” and “Too Dumb to Fail.”