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David Ellison is serious about recruiting Bari Weiss to CBS News – so serious that bankers and lawyers are now involved.
The two sides met yesterday on the sidelines of Allen & Company's annual media mogul get-together. Weiss' alma mater The New York Times scooped the fact that Ellison's Skydance is in "early talks" to acquire The Free Press.
It is far from clear whether Weiss and her investors think now is the time to sell. But it is clear, as Oliver Darcy first reported, that Ellison thinks Weiss could be a key addition to CBS News once his takeover of Paramount is approved by the Trump administration.
Ellison has been tight-lipped about his vision for CBS, so his interest in The Free Press is a big signal about his plans. This morning's New York Post puts both Ellison and Weiss together under the caption "anti-woke warriors."
Yes, that's part of it — Ellison appreciates The FP's editorial approach and shares its strong support for Israel, two sources told me — but consider what the startup represents from a media business POV. Weiss built a new brand from scratch, garnered tons of attention, convinced lots of readers to become paying customers, hired lots of writers, and landed a $100 million valuation.
Thus, from a CEO's standpoint, The Free Press represents growth and relevance (and an immediate rejoinder to "liberal bias" accusations) in an industry under immense pressure.
The FP also has many critics – but I recommend checking out the site and recognizing how much it has expanded. It "began as a reactionary product," Weiss admitted in a June interview with Coleman Hughes, while saying the "breadth of what we cover" is now much wider. Further expansion was very much on her mind: "A Donald Trump presidency is a huge, huge pivot and shift for us," adding, "We know how to cover the woke left. What does it mean to cover a woke right?" CBS staffers who are curious about Weiss should listen to this full Q&A.
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Mixed reactions inside CBS |
According to the NYT, "among the many options being discussed" between Ellison and Weiss include Weiss "taking on an influential role in shaping the editorial sensibilities of CBS News."
Ellison wouldn't be hiring her to replace brand-new CBS News president Tom Cibrowski. Nor would she be there to produce "Sunday Morning" packages. But it's easy to see how Weiss and The Free Press could supercharge CBSNews.com and inform the news division's coverage.
The FP is a digital magazine – it's less about breaking news, more about making sense of the news – which would make it a complement to CBS's up-to-the-minute network news operation. Think about it: All the most successful digital news brands bring both what-just-happened reporting and what-it-means analysis.
As you can imagine, there are mixed feelings about this Free Press possibility at CBS, with some staffers expressing obvious trepidation and others sounding open-minded. One CBS employee sent me a link to Mehdi Hasan's post on X, which simply read, "RIP CBS News." Another pointed out that Weiss wrote about CBS last year when morning co-host Tony Dokoupil's tough interview of Ta-Nehisi Coates caused controversy. When some CBS journalists criticized Dokoupil, The FP strongly defended him, and Weiss co-bylined a piece about the "fallout," clearly taking Dokoupil's side.
>> A telling quote: Alex Steigrad's NYPost story cites a CBS News source about a "drag-your-feet culture" at the news division, saying "what Ellison needs to understand is that the anchors and the show executives think they can outlast any executive choice."
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CBS News Texas reporter Marissa Armas deserves kudos for her straightforward question to President Trump during the president's visit to flood-ravaged Kerrville yesterday. "Several families we've heard from are obviously upset," Armas said, "because they say that those warnings, those alerts didn't go out in time, and they also say that people could have been saved. What do you say to those families?"
Trump claimed "only a bad person" would ask such a question, adding, "I don't know who you are, but only a very evil person would ask a question like that."
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"Officials inside the White House are very frustrated because they feel like this news cycle is only getting worse for them," CNN's Kaitlan Collins said last night.
She was talking about the Jeffrey Epstein "files" fallout – with deputy FBI director Dan Bongino considering resigning and attorney general Pam Bondi facing sharp criticism. "It is not from people that they can easily dismiss – or say 'it's the media' or Democrats – it is their own base that is so furious and so angry over how they've handled this," Collins pointed out.
And it's all of their own making. As Kaitlyn Tiffany wrote for The Atlantic, "Trump and his administration invited conspiracy theories into the White House. Now they're going to have a hard time getting them out."
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Remember, Bongino was on his podcast in 2023 saying "what the hell are they hiding with Jeffrey Epstein?" Well, he has become the "they" boogeyman he derided.
From what I'm seeing in MAGA social media circles, however, Bondi is getting most of the blame for the joint DOJ and FBI memo. At a Turning Point USA conference in Tampa last night, the crowd openly booed when Laura Ingraham asked if they were satisfied with the results of the Epstein investigation. Speakers like Charlie Kirk and Megyn Kelly loudly criticized Bondi.
Meanwhile, pro-Trump influencers are defending Bongino and urging him to stay in place at the FBI. Right now Bongino has virtually all of the online MAGA support and Bondi has practically none. We'll see how that figures into his decision-making about whether to go to work on Monday...
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Four key factors to keep in mind |
>> "Trump may wish it goes away, but Google searches for Epstein are up 1,200% this week," CNN's Harry Enten noted. Indeed, the Trump admin's actions have inflated, not deflated, Epstein-related theorizing. Think about it: A vague government memo, a "no more questions" attitude, a prison video that raises even more Q's...
>> View from the left: Brian Tyler Cohen says "the AG doesn't hold any power, Trump does. It's clearly *him* who wants this to go away. Don’t delude yourself into thinking the buck stop with anyone other than Trump."
>> Is Bongino trying to keep his options open, maybe dreaming about returning to his pre-FBI podcasting life? "The thing that these folks want more than anything is fame," Adam Kinzinger said on "AC360" last night.
>> Fox News "seems to be trying to get unstuck between a MAGA base demanding reckoning and its instinct to protect the Trump-era status quo," Mediaite's Colby Hall writes.
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Check out what the EPA did... |
I actually think EPA chief Lee Zeldin and his aides showed a path forward when it comes to right-wing conspiracy culture. Earlier this week Zeldin's agency tried to tamp down unhinged theories about "weather modification," as Axios reported here.
The EPA released online materials that "directly debunk common myths," but in a way that "echoes the language of skeptics — emphasizing transparency and public concern, rather than outright dismissal." The agency tried to meet folks where they are, countering misinfo "without alienating a political movement that increasingly distrusts science."
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>> Overnight Trump labeled Rosie O'Donnell a "threat to humanity" and said "I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship." (Mediaite)
>> The Fox feedback loop in action? Last night the president said on Truth Social that federal officers can "arrest anyone throwing rocks at their vehicles" about half an hour after Laura Ingraham called for that very action "on her show." (X)
>> In an early morning post, "xAI apologized for Grok's 'horrific' rant, and blamed the chatbot's new instructions and 'extremist' X user posts." (Business Insider)
>> Podcaster Andrew Schulz is getting lots of press for saying Trump is "doing the exact opposite of everything I voted for." (The Hill)
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"If you want to know where Republican politics is heading, look at the memes," Nathan Taylor Pemberton writes, and he's absolutely right about that. In this guest essay for the NYT, he calls it a "new form of political propaganda" and says the sometimes sinister posts showcase a "new kind of political style" – one that is "ruthless, inflammatory and designed for maximum viral reach."
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A win for the press in L.A. |
A federal judge has ruled that L.A. police "cannot force journalists out of protest areas or use nonlethal weapons against them after reporters alleged officers targeted them during anti-ICE demonstrations last month," Politico's Lindsey Holden reports.
This temporary restraining order is a win for the LA Press Club, which filed the suit last month. "I'm glad that the federal courts have now joined the Governor, Legislature, and even past LAPD chiefs in recognizing that officers need to be controlled," press club press rights chair Adam Rose told me...
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A loss for a west Texas publisher |
In Jeff Davis County, Texas, population 1,996, "an independent publisher's arrest sparks First Amendment questions."
That's an understatement by the Texas Tribune, which is out with a thoughtful piece by Carlos Nogueras Ramos about David Flash, an independent publisher who has either a much-needed journalist in a news desert or a "nuisance with a camera." Read on...
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Hollywood notes and quotes |
>> The question on Page One of today's NYT: "It's a bird! It's a plane! It's a... polarizing political metaphor?" My two cents: Moviegoers forget about all the culture war noise the moment the "Superman" logo shows up on screen. (NYT)
>> Once you've seen the movie, check out Dan Heching's CNN story about the many cameos (including Jake Tapper!) and Siddhant Adlakha's Vulture story about what the ending portends about next year's "Supergirl."
>> Apple "is poised to win the rights to stream F1 racing in the US," Peter Kafka reports. (Business Insider)
>> Legendary Entertainment "is considering a takeover of Lionsgate Studios." (Bloomberg)
>> "South Park" has been "pulled from Paramount+ outside of America as the streamer's license to stream the series internationally expired amid an ongoing streaming rights dispute between Paramount and the show’s creators." (TheWrap)
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David Gergen was siu genesis. The Washington insider, presidential adviser, beloved professor and CNN political analyst died Friday at the age of 83. "Our staff, contributors, and audiences are better informed because of his towering influence," a CNN spokesperson said. "We will never forget the lessons in compassion and humility that he taught us."
Like so many others, I felt lucky every time I shared a TV screen with Gergen. He had "an extraordinary perspective on American life," Anderson Cooper said last night.
David Axelrod said his first thought upon hearing of Gergen's death "was, it wasn't just the passing of a man, but you worry that it's the passing of an approach to politics." In this CNN.com obit, Jamie Gangel and I wrote more about that...
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Giving David the last word |
Last December, when Gergen's daughter Katherine Gergen Barnett disclosed his dementia diagnosis, she wrote a column for the Boston Globe capturing some of her father's final reflections.
"As awful as life is currently in the public sphere, there is still reason to believe in our country and its leadership and to go into service," her daughter quoted him saying.
"Americans," Gergen told her, "can endure any crisis, but they need to continue to take a sense of responsibility for their country."
"We are going through a period of fear," Gergen added. "We have been tested, we are being tested now, but we must recognize that politics in our country is like a pendulum. The pendulum has swung back in a way that may be very dangerous. But books such as Arthur Schlesinger Jr.'s 'The Cycles of American History' show us that as a country we have been here before."
"We must hold onto the inspirational moments of our history," he said, "and use them to light our path forward."
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