CEO David Ellison is unsurprisingly thrilled about Weiss’ appointment. In a memo to staff on Monday, Ellison wrote that Weiss will help the network broaden its audience and maintain a “constructive, respectful and bipartisan dialogue” in its work, per TheWrap. “Our mission is clear: to ensure that this global platform remains a place where people can seek the truth, gain understanding and engage with the facts. That is our purpose,” he continued. He also suggested that the temperature of the discourse “feels higher than ever,” and that a space “once reserved for thoughtful dialogue has been consumed by partisan division and hostile disputes.” Despite all this gesturing towards bipartisanship, Ellison has made it pretty clear which side of the division he would favor if these disputes ever came to a head. Along these lines, it’s not surprising that he praised Weiss as a “perfect fit” for CBS’ news division in his memo, lauding her “passion for reaching broad audiences through rigorous, fact-based reporting and a relentless commitment to amplifying voices from all corners of the spectrum.”
Weiss has had a wholly untraditional rise to this high-ranking position. As The New York Times, her former outlet, points out, “In its nearly 100 years, CBS has not seen a leader quite like Ms. Weiss. Neither has the media industry.” Weiss moved her reporting to Substack, where she initially launched a newsletter titled Common Sense, after publicly resigning as an opinion writer and editor at NYT in 2020. Since its founding in 2021, The Free Press has grown to reach more than 1.5 million readers and generates a reported $15 million in annual subscription revenue. While exact financial details were not disclosed, TheWrap reports that Paramount acquired the website for as much as $150 million in a cash and stock deal, but it will continue to publish independent reporting, podcasts, and more during the transition. In a statement to NYT, Substack co-founder Hamish McKenzie said this deal is a “strong recognition that we’re in a new generation of media now.”
If that is indeed true, Weiss wants CBS News to be at its forefront. In her own memo to staff, she said she’d like to hear from employees about what is and isn’t working at the company currently, as well as how to make CBS News “the most trusted news organization in America and the world.” (They may not be the most forthcoming right now, however. Ellison is reportedly planning to lay off up to 10 percent of the newsroom’s staff during this changing of the guard.) “I’ll approach it the way any reporter would—with an open mind, a fresh notebook and an urgent deadline,” Weiss added. “What I can tell you on day one is that I stand for the same core journalistic values that have defined this profession since the beginning, and I will continue to champion them alongside you.”
