On October 12, 2025, John Oliver took to his HBO platform, Last Week Tonight, to deliver a pointed critique about the recent shakeup at CBS News. The appointment of Bari Weiss—a writer and opinion journalist known for her controversial stances and founding of The Free Press—as editor-in-chief of CBS News has sent ripples through the media landscape, raising questions about the direction of one of America’s most storied newsrooms.
The story begins with a major change in ownership. Paramount, the parent company of CBS, recently merged with David Ellison’s Skydance and, in a surprising move, acquired The Free Press. With the acquisition came Ellison’s decision to appoint Weiss as the new editorial leader of CBS News. According to Deadline, this decision is part of a broader strategy by Ellison, who is also reportedly preparing a bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent company of CNN and HBO. For Oliver, this development is not just a business maneuver—it’s a potential turning point for the integrity of American journalism.
Oliver’s concern was palpable. He began by acknowledging that Last Week Tonight is itself an opinion-heavy show, but he drew a sharp line between opinion journalism and the responsibilities of running a major news organization. "There are many opinion-heavy outlets out there, from left to right, and with low to high editorial standards. This show is, among other things, an opinion outlet, and while our staff works incredibly hard to research stories before we write something and vigorously check our facts afterwards, we’re also not the news," he said, as quoted by Deadline. "I wouldn’t want anyone who led a pure opinion outlet, not even one that I happened to agree with, to suddenly be running CBS News."
Weiss’s background, Oliver argued, is steeped in opinion rather than hard news. As Variety reported, Oliver noted, "She’s been given editorial control of a massive news organization even though she’s never run a TV network, has no experience directing television coverage and, as one ’60 Minutes’ producer pointed out, is not even a reporter. That is true. She didn’t come up through the news side of a newspaper but through the opinion pages, which are a very different thing."
Oliver’s critique didn’t stop at Weiss’s résumé. He took a closer look at The Free Press, the outlet Weiss founded after her high-profile departure from The New York Times. According to Oliver, The Free Press is characterized by a "pronounced theme" that "the left has gone too far." He explained, "Basically whatever issue you feel that is true for—Israel, campus politics, DEI or police reform—you’ll find articles there to reinforce your opinion." While Oliver granted that the left is not immune from criticism, he argued that some of The Free Press’s pieces "can get out ahead of its evidence," leading to articles that are "pretty poorly fact-checked, and in ways that feel important."
The heart of Oliver’s worry centers on the potential consequences of placing a figure like Weiss—who, in his view, has produced work that is "at best irresponsible and at worst deeply misleading"—at the helm of a major news institution. He voiced concern that Ellison’s decision reflects a broader trend of billionaires taking control of major journalistic outlets and injecting them with contrarian, right-leaning opinion journalism. "It is not just about Bari Weiss being at CBS, it’s about the fact that CBS is now under the control of someone who thinks that she, and her editorial sensibility, make her a good fit for the job," Oliver remarked, as cited by Variety. "And who, incidentally, is reportedly preparing a bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, home of CNN and—uh oh—HBO. Which isn’t ideal, although I’ve gotta say, if what he likes about Bari is that she forces him to have hard conversations that get a bit uncomfortable, maybe he’ll like this."
Oliver’s analysis extended to the broader implications for American journalism. He pointed out that Ellison is just the latest in a string of wealthy individuals—following the likes of Jeff Bezos at the Washington Post and Patrick Soon-Shiong at the L.A. Times—to buy into the nation’s media institutions and implement sweeping changes. "Whatever complaints I might have had with their coverage before, and I have had plenty, my solution would never have been this. Because when these takeovers get announced, it’s easy to think, ‘Well, thank goodness there are other outlets that aren’t under some billionaire’s influence.’ And that is true, because there is always another. Until there suddenly isn’t."
With Weiss’s appointment, Oliver warned viewers to be vigilant for subtle shifts at CBS News. He suggested that changes might not be immediately obvious but could manifest in staff resignations, firings, or stories that seem slanted, especially on topics where Weiss has been outspoken. "If you start seeing people resigning or getting fired or you start seeing stories that seem off in some way—especially if it involves the left going too far on a topic Bari Weiss cares about—it’s worth asking yourself why that might be," he cautioned. "Because unfortunately, the much bigger answer might be that a billionaire has chosen to inject contrarian, right-leaning opinion journalism into an American icon."
For Oliver, the issue is not simply about one person or one outlet, but about the future of news in a landscape increasingly shaped by the priorities of the ultra-wealthy. As he put it, "I don’t know what is going to happen next," but the stakes are high. The appointment of Bari Weiss to lead CBS News, in Oliver’s assessment, is a test of whether the guardrails of traditional journalism can withstand the pressures of billionaire influence and the blurring of opinion and news.
As the dust settles on this controversial decision, journalists and viewers alike are left to watch closely. The next chapter for CBS News—and perhaps for American media as a whole—will be shaped by the choices made in the months ahead. For now, Oliver’s warning rings clear: pay attention, ask questions, and don’t take the integrity of the news for granted.
