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Bari Weiss’s CBS Plan Draws Blowback After Touting Dershowitz–Loesch Debate

Following Skydance’s $150 million Free Press integration, her call for visible studio debates drew ridicule over interlocutor choice, with critics citing weak early viewership.

Overview

  • Bari Weiss is now editor-in-chief of CBS News after the network integrated her outlet The Free Press in a deal reported at roughly $150 million.
  • At the Jewish Leadership Conference, she promoted a transparency model that puts conflicting worldviews on air to argue in good faith and said she aims to speak for the “75 percent.”
  • She highlighted a Free Press debate between Alan Dershowitz and Dana Loesch on gun policy as an exemplar, describing them as representing the center left and center right.
  • Journalists and commentators mocked the example and questioned her judgment, with some citing Dershowitz’s Epstein ties while rejecting him as a “charismatic” voice for mainstream audiences.
  • A tweet widely cited in coverage noted the Dershowitz–Loesch debate drew about 860 views in its first five hours online, while a Mediaite column defended Weiss’s approach as transparent pluralism rather than “both-sidesism.”