On October 7, 2025, the U.S. media landscape was shaken by a move that’s already sparking heated debate across newsrooms, boardrooms, and social media feeds. Paramount, under the stewardship of the Ellison family, announced that Bari Weiss—known for her outspoken views and her anti-woke digital outlet, The Free Press—would take over as editor-in-chief of CBS News. The same day, Paramount revealed it had acquired The Free Press for a staggering $150 million, marking a pivotal moment in the ongoing transformation of American media.
The announcement was anything but quiet. According to multiple sources reported by The Daily Beast, Weiss wasted no time making her presence felt. In a Tuesday morning editorial call with CBS News staff, she declared, “Let’s do the f*ing news,” adding that she wanted to “win.” The comment, reminiscent of Aaron Sorkin’s dramatic television scripts, was met with a mix of bemusement and skepticism among longtime CBS journalists. “I’m not joking,” one CBS News employee told The Daily Beast. “She actually said that.” Another staffer described the moment as “cringey movie references and a half-aed pep talk.” Eye rolls reportedly rippled across the virtual newsroom—hardly the unified rallying cry Weiss might have hoped for.
The leadership shakeup is part of a much broader campaign by the Ellison family to reshape the American media environment. As reported by Techdirt, the acquisition of Weiss’s outlet is just one piece in a larger puzzle. Paramount CEO David Ellison, son of billionaire Larry Ellison—a known ally of former President Donald Trump—has been leading an aggressive media acquisition spree. Their aim? To dominate what remains of the traditional U.S. media landscape, with CBS News as a flagship.
Ellison’s memo to staff, as described by Techdirt, was filled with promises of “rigorous, fact-based reporting” and a “relentless commitment to amplifying voices from all corners of the spectrum.” Yet, these assurances landed with a thud among veteran journalists, many of whom pointed to Weiss’s record as a commentator and provocateur rather than a newsroom leader. “Weiss is not really qualified to run a newsroom,” one critic argued, noting her previous roles as a junior editor and opinion writer at The New York Times and, more recently, as the architect of The Free Press, a platform known for its contrarian takes and culture war skirmishes.
Behind the scenes, the mood at CBS News is described as tense, even chaotic. According to sources cited by The Independent and Techdirt, the arrival of Weiss has left staff “literally freaking out.” The concern isn’t just about editorial direction; it’s also about job security. As part of the restructuring, CBS News is preparing for significant layoffs of journalists and editors. The cuts, insiders say, are designed to help pay down the debt incurred by Paramount’s recent acquisitions—including the hefty sum shelled out for The Free Press.
The broader context is hard to ignore. Critics see the Ellison family’s moves as part of a trend toward consolidating media power in the hands of a few wealthy individuals, many of whom have clear political and ideological agendas. “Larry and David Ellison are on a media acquisition spree with the very obvious goal of turning what’s left of the dying U.S. media into a soggy mishmash of right wing propaganda and corporatist infotainment,” Techdirt charged. The article drew parallels to Elon Musk’s controversial stewardship of Twitter (now X), arguing that the goal is “information warfare,” not journalistic excellence.
For supporters of Weiss and the Ellisons, however, the shakeup is overdue. They argue that mainstream media has been too slow to adapt, too beholden to old orthodoxies, and too dismissive of viewpoints outside the liberal consensus. David Ellison’s memo promised to “amplify voices from all corners of the spectrum,” a nod to calls for greater ideological diversity in newsrooms. Weiss herself, in her first editorial call, positioned her leadership as a break from the past and a bold step into a new era.
Yet, even some of Weiss’s defenders admit her style is polarizing. Her tenure at The New York Times was marked by controversy, with critics accusing her of using the platform to troll “everyone left of center for engagement clicks with culture war dogshit and dangerously shoddy reporting,” as Techdirt put it. Her own outlet, The Free Press, has published a mix of original reporting and outspoken commentary, sometimes drawing fire for factual missteps and for amplifying divisive voices.
At the heart of the uproar is a fundamental question: What should CBS News be in 2025? For decades, the network was known as the “Tiffany Network,” a bastion of sober, trustworthy journalism. But in recent years, it has struggled with ratings declines, leadership churn, and the broader existential crisis facing legacy media. The Ellison family’s strategy—buying up outlets, slashing costs, and installing high-profile, polarizing figures—mirrors moves at other major media companies, from CNN to The Washington Post. The results, so far, have been mixed at best.
Weiss’s critics are blunt in their assessment. “Bari Weiss has no idea what she’s doing. CBS News is a newsroom, and Bari has never run a newsroom,” one source told Techdirt. Others pointed to recent editorial missteps at The Free Press, including a widely mocked piece about an AI “actress.” The consensus among many in the industry is that the Ellison-Weiss axis is less about journalistic integrity and more about ideological warfare and digital engagement—clicks, not credibility.
Meanwhile, the broader media landscape is shifting beneath everyone’s feet. As Larry Ellison reportedly eyes further acquisitions—including Time Warner and even TikTok—the question of who controls the news, and to what end, is more urgent than ever. Critics warn that the consolidation of media power in the hands of a few billionaires risks turning once-respected outlets into “modern Fox News” clones, relentlessly attacking perceived enemies of the wealthy elite. “For the kind of folks bankrolling this rightward lurch of U.S. media, fairness, opinion diversity, and serious journalism is the very last thing on their minds and money is clearly no object,” Techdirt concluded.
For now, CBS News staff are left to navigate an uncertain future—one where the only certainty is change, and where the battle over the soul of American journalism is far from settled. Whether Weiss’s arrival signals a renaissance or a reckoning for CBS News remains to be seen, but one thing is clear: the story is just getting started.
