The Gateway Pundit reported that Paramount acquired The Free Press in a $150M deal.
The Free Press co-founder and CEO, Bari Weiss, was named CBS News as editor-in-chief.
Weiss has a reputation for “calling out progressivism, cancel culture, being pro-Israel and being anti-woke.”
The New York Times’ Michael M. Grynbaum shared Weiss’s letter to her new colleagues.
On Thursday, in what is being described as Weiss’s ‘first scalp,’ the head of CBS News’ standards and practices unit, Claudia Milne, is out at the network.
Milne has come under fire for some of the woke decisions coming from CBS. In 2023, executives at CBS News, including Milne, reportedly barred the use of the word ‘transgender’ following the Covenant School shooting by Audrey Elizabeth Hale, a biological female who identified as a transgender male.
According to a memo obtained at the time by The New York Post, “The shooter’s gender identity has not been confirmed by CBS News,” the network’s executives insisted in a Tuesday memo obtained by The Post.
“As such, we should avoid any mention of it as it has no known relevance to the crime. Should that change, we can and will revisit.”
The directive was delivered by Ingrid Ciprian-Matthews, the executive vice president of newsgathering and Milne.
Milne also reportedly blocked former CBS News correspondent Catherine Herridge from interviewing Elon Musk in 2023.
The Post reported on Milne’s departure:
Although Milne’s job had been “slowly phased out,” a CBS source called her departure “significant.”
“She was part of the woke mob at CBS News. It shows an editorial shift in how CBS will operate,” the person said, speculating that “this is Bari’s first scalp.”
“We live in complicated times. For our company, for our industry and for our country. And it’s times like this that what we do matters most,” Milne said Thursday in a farewell note to colleagues, which was first reported by Variety.
“I believe our role as journalists is to hold the powerful to account.”
Upon taking on her new role, Weiss shared on X, “They said that the internet killed journalism forever and that there simply weren’t enough Americans out there in search of media driven by honesty, independence, and integrity. You proved them wrong.”
“You demonstrated that there is a market, a big one for honest journalism, and you’ve given us a mandate to pursue that mission from an even bigger platform. I’m going to continue to lead this incredible community alongside my tireless team, remaining CEO and Editor-in-Chief of the Free Press, and of course, hosting this show.”
