Paramount to Buy TheFreePress, Bari Weiss to Join CBS

The deal comes on the heels of last month’s blockbuster merger between David Ellison’s Skydance Media and Paramount Global, which ended decades of Redstone family control and put CBS and CBS News firmly under Ellison’s watch.

The FCC signed off on the transaction after Ellison agreed to sweeping changes at CBS News, including installing an ombudsman to police bias, dismantling DEI programs and promising to elevate “viewpoint diversity.”

Weiss has carved out a reputation for challenging both the left and the right, building The Free Press into a high-profile, subscriber-driven platform that publishes essays, interviews and investigative work outside the traditional media lanes.

The timing is no accident. As part of the Skydance-Paramount merger, Ellison has been under pressure to prove he can modernize CBS News and reverse years of ratings decline.

His $8 billion takeover was billed as a bet on revitalizing Paramount’s content pipeline, but CBS News — long the crown jewel of American broadcast journalism — became the flashpoint in Washington during the regulatory review.

FCC officials grilled Ellison’s team over CBS’s coverage, ultimately conditioning approval on the creation of the ombudsman’s office and the elimination of DEI mandates.

The Paramount-Skydance merger was approved after Paramount agreed to settle a lawsuit brought by President Trump against CBS News over a “60 Minutes” interview with Kamala Harris that he says was deceptively edited.