Overview
- Paramount Skydance bought The Free Press for about $150 million and installed its founder, Bari Weiss, as editor-in-chief of CBS News with a mandate to shape editorial priorities and drive innovation.
- The Writers Guild advised CBS News employees not to answer Weiss’s staff survey about duties and accomplishments until protections were clarified, as conflicting guidance from managers created confusion.
- John Oliver devoted a lengthy Last Week Tonight segment to criticizing Weiss’s record and lack of broadcast leadership, calling her work “at best irresponsible, and at worst, deeply misleading,” and urging viewers to watch for newsroom changes.
- Coverage highlighted governance concerns including reports that Weiss will report directly to David Ellison, the recent appointment of ombudsman Kenneth R. Weinstein, and Ellison’s reported interest in a Warner Bros. Discovery bid.
- President Trump praised David and Larry Ellison and said CBS has “great potential,” comments that added a political dimension to questions about the network’s direction under new leadership.