News
Paramount Buys the Free Press, Names Bari Weiss CBS News Chief
Paramount has acquired the online news site The Free Press and appointed its founder, Bari Weiss, as the new editor-in-chief of CBS News. This move raises questions about media consolidation, free spe...
Paramount Buys the Free Press, Names Bari Weiss CBS News Chief
News •
0:00 / 0:00
Interactive Transcript
Speaker A
When we go into a new region, networks matter. Experience matters. For an inside look at the global connections that help businesses succeed, search for Turning Point brought to you by Bloomberg Media Studios and hsbc.
Speaker B
Hi, I'm Stephen Carroll.
Speaker C
And I'm Caroline Hepker, here to introduce you to a podcast that brings you the news you need to start your day in just 15 minutes.
Speaker B
It's called Bloomberg Daybreak Europe Edition, covering all the top stories across Europe and around the world. Each weekday morning, we're up early to bring you the Latest news. By 7am we've got everything you need.
Speaker C
To know, from geopolitics and global events to economics and what's moving markets. I'm covering it all from London and.
Speaker B
I'm in the EU's capital, Brussels. We have 3,000 journalists and analysts around the world to tell you what's happening, what it means, and why it matters.
Speaker C
It's more than just business headlines, from the price of your breakfast to global shifts in power, economics and money aren't just part of the story. They're often the driving force.
Speaker A
So.
Speaker B
So start your day with us on Bloomberg Daybreak Europe Edition. For the news you need to know and the context to make sense of it.
Speaker C
Find new episodes of Bloomberg Daybreak Europe edition by 7am London time on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker A
Bloomberg Audio Studios podcasts, radio news this.
Speaker D
Is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Massar.
Speaker A
And Tim Stenbec on Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker E
Paramount Skydance officially announced that it's acquiring the online news site the Free Press and naming founder Barry Weiss editor in chief of CBS News. It's a move likely to stir controversy inside and outside the venerable news organization. Weiss is 41 years old. She's going to report to Paramount CEO David Ellison. He's 42 years old. He's a film producer. He's the son of software billionaire Larry Ellison, who's one of the wealthiest people in the world. She will oversee the editorial direction of a news division whose programs include the prestigious 60 Minutes and and CBS News Sunday Morning. For more, we bring in Katie Fallow. She's back with us. She's deputy litigation director at the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University. Her specialty is threats to free speech and a free press in the digital age. She joins us from New York. More consolidation within the media industry, a media industry that is already under lots of pressure, especially legacy media. But in this case, it's legacy media marrying an upstart news organization that started on Substack after Bari Weiss left the New York Times because she said she didn't have the freedom to essentially publish what she wanted. How do you look at a deal such as this in the context of everything happening when it comes to the First Amendment? Katie?
Speaker A
Yeah, I think this, the deal and the appointment of Barry Weiss to be the head of CBS News raises a number of questions about the media, media consolidation, free speech and the Trump administration, which I you can't read out of the picture here. Standing on its own, the decision of Paramount Skydance to acquire an upstart newsletter or to appoint a new person as the head of its news division, CBS News division on their own wouldn't necessarily be big news in my view, because as a private company, they have the right to acquire whatever news outlets they want and appoint whoever they want to be the head of their CBS flagship news program. However, I think you need to see this in the context of a number of moves that Paramount has made in the past year. And you have to see all of this in the context of the Trump administration. And I think what raises the question of whether media companies are changing their news coverage in order to appease the Trump.
Speaker D
All right, so are they?
Speaker A
Well, I mean, I think, you know, if you take each individual fact, maybe it doesn't prove that. But I think if you see this recent move in light of Paramount's decision before the merger to settle what was plainly a frivolous lawsuit brought by President Trump based on the airing by 60 minutes of an edited version of its interview with Kamala Harris. And you know, by all accounts, including by CBS News accounts and their lawyers accounts, this was a frivolous lawsuit that shouldn't have gone anywhere. And CBS had a very strong First Amendment argument to get the case dismissed. And, but then Paramount went ahead and settled this after not just the lawsuit, but the Federal Communications Commission under Brendan Carr, Chairman Brendan Carr was investigating this same airing of the Kamala Harris interview. So you have pressure coming to bear from both Trump personally and from the Federal Communications Commission. And I think it's been pretty widely reported that the understanding is that Paramount settled this case in order to get approval for its merger. And I think you can see the appointment of a, you know, well known critic of at least some parts of the left, Bari Weiss. And you know, taking that into, you know, coupled with the appointment of an ombudsman who is from a conservative think tank, you know, you look, look at all of those data points and it suggests that CBS is moving or Paramount is moving CBS in a different direction in order to either appease Trump or to not draw the ire of the Trump administration and its regulatory agencies.
Speaker D
So, Kate, you know, Katie, we've talked about this, Tim and I, about kind of the fiduciary responsibility of anybody who runs a public entity. Right. So, you know, I kind of get some of this from that side or from that angle. Having said that, one of the things that I think we've talked about, certainly in our own newsroom or just among ourselves, is this idea of, you know, the White House has been very specific or out there that if they don't necessarily like a media organization, they will ban you. And so is it better in terms of protecting free speech or making sure that everybody can cover the White House, that they play ball a little bit and maybe aren't as combative, or are we, in doing that, giving up what is such a core of America, and that is the right to freedom of speech and the free press to keep politicians accountable?
Speaker A
Yeah, I mean, it's, it's true that there may be tension between the fiduciary duty or the profit seeking purpose of private companies or, you know, publicly held or whatever, just private corporations, which have one goal of, you know, maximizing profits versus free speech, which has the goal of ensuring that people are allowed to say what they want free from government interference. And as you mentioned, really critically, the role of the press in covering the government in a fair and accurate way without, you know, a thumb on the scale from government pressure. So I think those could be seen in tension with one another. On the other hand, I think that. And that is something. Just got 20 seconds, frankly.
Speaker D
Yeah, go ahead.
Speaker A
Oh, yeah. Frankly, from the perspective of media consolidation, I think that could have a negative impact on free speech. And I think it's really important that companies and news outlets resist that pressure.
Speaker D
All right, Katie, we know we will continue with you in the future. Katie Fallow, deputy litigation director at the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, joining us here. Right on Bloomberg Business Week. Daily monitoring the White House.
Speaker F
Are you looking for a new podcast about stuff related to money?
Speaker C
Well, today's your lucky day.
Speaker F
I'm Matt Levine.
Speaker C
And I'm Katie Greifeld.
Speaker F
And we are the hosts of Money Stuff, the podcast. Every Friday, we dive into the top stories about Wall street finance and other stuff.
Speaker C
We have fun, we get weird. And we want you to join us.
Speaker F
You can listen to Money Stuff, the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.