Bari Weiss

Weiss is a native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.⁠[1]

In 2018 Weiss received the Reason Foundation’s Bastiat Prize.⁠[1]

In 2019 Weiss published her first book, How to Fight Anti-Semitism, which won a 2019 National Jewish Book Award.⁠[1][2]

Weiss worked as a writer and editor in the Opinion section of The New York Times. In her resignation letter she wrote that she had been hired after the 2016 election “with the goal of bringing in voices that would not otherwise appear in your pages,” including first-time writers, centrists and conservatives.⁠[3]

She resigned from The New York Times in 2020, giving as reasons the paper’s caving to critics on Twitter and a lack of free expression; in her resignation letter she wrote: “Twitter is not on the masthead of The New York Times. But Twitter has become its ultimate editor.”⁠[2][3]

In 2021 Weiss founded the media company The Free Press, originally called Common Sense, which publishes investigative reporting and opinion and runs debates, live events and other programming. That year she received the LA Press Club’s Daniel Pearl Award for Courage and Integrity in Journalism.⁠[4][5][1]

In November 2021 the founding of the University of Austin was announced, with Weiss among its founding trustees alongside Niall FergusonNiall FergusonNiall Ferguson is a British historian of finance, international relations and empire and the Milbank Family Senior Fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution; the author of 16 books including The Ascent of Money, Empire and a biography of Henry Kissinger, he was knighted for services to literature in 2024.Open the full entry and Joe LonsdaleJoe LonsdaleJoe Lonsdale is the founder and managing partner of 8VC and a co-founder of technology companies including Palantir Technologies, Addepar, and OpenGov.Open the full entry and among the founding members who announced its establishment.⁠[2]

In 2023 Weiss and The Free Press won the Dao Prize for their work on the Twitter Files.⁠[1]

On February 6, 2023, Andreessen HorowitzAndreessen HorowitzAndreessen Horowitz (a16z) is a venture capital firm founded in 2009 by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz. It invests from the seed stage through the growth stage and provides operational support to its portfolio companies.Open the full entry (a16z) published on its YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is Google’s video-sharing and creator platform, founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim and acquired by Google in 2006. Built around video uploading, viewing, and creator earnings, the platform has developed Shorts, YouTube Music, Premium, YouTube TV, and products for children, and is headquartered in San Bruno, California, United States.Open the full entry channel the session “The 4th Estate: How Media is Changing in Washington, D.C.,” moderated by a16z general partner Katherine Boyle, in which Weiss, described as a journalist and author, appeared with Substack co-founder and CEO Chris Best and Axios co-founder and CEO Jim VandeHei. Opening with the question “Is there still a healthy symbiosis between policymakers and the media?”, the session discusses the relationship between the media and government, how decentralization affects media institutions and journalists, and what motivates people to start new media organizations in a volatile field.⁠[6]

On October 6, 2025, ParamountParamountParamount is a media-group brand spanning film, television, streaming and interactive entertainment. Paramount Global and Skydance Media combined as Paramount Skydance Corporation in 2025; after completing its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery on October 6, 2026, the group became Skydance Corporation. Its businesses include Paramount Pictures, CBS, Comedy Central, Paramount+ and Pluto TV.Open the full entry announced that it would acquire The Free Press and named Weiss editor-in-chief of CBS News, responsible for shaping editorial priorities and leading innovation in how CBS News reports and delivers the news. She reports directly to David Ellison while continuing to lead The Free Press, and works with CBS News president Tom Cibrowski, who reports to George Cheeks, chair of TV media; The Free Press retains its independent brand and operations.⁠[4]

Over the 12 months before the announcement, The Free Press’s revenue had grown 82% and its subscribers 86%, to 1.5 million, including more than 170,000 paying subscribers; financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Weiss said in the release: “This is a great moment for The Free Press.”⁠[4]

In December 2025 Weiss had “60 Minutes” hold correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi’s report on deportees sent by the Trump administration to a Salvadoran prison; it aired a month later with added comments from the administration but no on-camera interviews with officials. Alfonsi privately complained that the decision was political. Critics have been watching whether Weiss is moving CBS News in a direction friendlier to the Trump administration.⁠[7]

On May 28, 2026, Weiss and CBS News president Tom Cibrowski announced that technology journalist and filmmaker Nick BiltonNick BiltonNick Bilton is a technology journalist, author and documentary filmmaker who wrote books including “Hatching Twitter” and “American Kingpin,” and who has served since 2026 as executive producer of the CBS News program “60 Minutes.”Open the full entry would succeed Tanya Simon as executive producer of “60 Minutes”; Bilton had no broadcast television experience. Weiss said: “Nick is one of the most entrepreneurial journalists of our time.” In a staff memo the two wrote that building a show that thrives in the 21st century “requires a new approach.”⁠[8][7]

Weiss hosts the podcast Honestly.⁠[1]

The Free Press: Official website: https://www.thefp.com/ (opens in a new window).⁠[5]

Personal website: https://www.bariweiss.com/ (opens in a new window).⁠[1]

X: Public account: https://x.com/bariweiss (opens in a new window).⁠[1]