Shana Tova, Bari Weiss!
Just days after the High Holidays when Jews atone for their sins and celebrate the Hebrew calendar New Year, Weiss has begun 5786 with a bang: this morning she disclosed to her valued readers that she’s sold her independent Free Press to Paramount for $150 million, reportedly for cash and stock.
And just like that, The Free Press is now a proud member of the corporate media.
Let me just say I don’t begrudge Weiss her windfall. If someone offered me $150 million for this blog, I’d say, “Where do I sign?” without missing a beat. Heck, I confess I likely could be compromised for a lot less. If GM CEO Mary Barra gifted me my coveted newly redesigned 2026 Subaru Outback, I’d be more shameless than Fortune editor Alyson Shontell promoting Barra as one of America’s best and most inspirational chief executives.
But Weiss is fooling herself if she believes she hasn’t sold out. The evidence is overwhelming that when independent media publications are acquired by conglomerates, they lose their feistiness and relevance. Remember The Huffington Post, which Arianna Huffington sold to AOL for $315 million? Perhaps this will surprise you as it did me, but The Huffington Post is still in business, and so is AOL – both were acquired by Verizon and then pawned off to a private equity firm for virtually nothing.
Vice began as a foul-mouthed Canadian zine and, for a time, was the cool kid of digital journalism. Then came the corporate money — first 21st Century Fox, then Disney, then private equity. The result? Bureaucracy, debt, and a bankruptcy sale for pennies on the dollar.
Then there was BuzzFeed, once the archetype of viral, democratized media. After going public, it had to answer to Wall Street — cue pivot-to-profit panic, mass layoffs, and the death of BuzzFeed News and exploding viral watermelons. Rolling Stone, a pioneer in counterculture journalism, was acquired by Penske Media with Saudi royal money. I haven’t read a Rolling Stone article since Matt Taibbi bolted years ago.
Journalists sometimes become caricatures of the people and values they most mocked. The most notorious is Graydon Carter, the Canadian-born former editor of Vanity Fair, a publication that has shamelessly fawned on Hollywood and celebrities for decades. In an earlier life, Carter was co-editor of Spy magazine, which mocked all that Vanity Fair celebrated.
Hard as Weiss may try to remain true to her values, it’s inevitable that she’ll trip over some of them on the way to the bank. As a public service for Free Press readers, I’ve put together the top 10 stories they most assuredly won’t be reading in The Free Press given Weiss’ sellout.
1. Bari Weiss, The Fresh Face of Media Hypocrisy
Weiss founded The Free Press as the antidote to groupthink, and it has now joined the Paramount family – the same Paramount that once edited Mission: Impossible to please China’s censors. The woman who fled The New York Times for silencing her is now beholden to a studio that needs China’s movie screens to generate big profits. After years of protesting cancel culture, Weiss opted to join the more lucrative version of it.
2. The Billionaires Who Control America’s Free Press
Corporate journalism is now controlled by the ultra-rich: Rupert Murdoch (Wall Street Journal), Jeff Bezos (Washington Post), Marc Benioff (Time), Laurene Powell Jobs (Atlantic), Patrick Soon-Shiong (Los Angeles Times), and Chatchaval Jiaravanon (Fortune). Bloomberg Media is owned by billionaire Michael Bloomberg, but he funded the quality journalism empire from the ground up, so he’s a hero in my book.
3. Larry Ellison: From Stock Buybacks to Media Mogul
Paramount’s controlling force isn’t CEO David Ellison—it’s his father, Oracle founder Larry Ellison, who has funneled billions into the studio through David’s Skydance Media. It’s the elder Ellison’s money and influence that ultimately control The Free Press. Larry Ellison achieved much of his vast wealth using Oracle’s profits to buy back the company’s stock, increasing his control while enriching himself. Now he’s parlaying that financial engineering into cultural influence.
4. How Hollywood Learned to Love Totalitarianism
From Dumbledore to the Uyghurs, Hollywood has never met a Chinese censor or oppression it couldn’t appease. Paramount, Disney, and Warner Bros. have all edited films to satisfy Beijing, then congratulated themselves for “building bridges.” Expect The Free Press to embrace Hollywood’s “cultural sensitivity.”
5. Why CBS Should Pair Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert
Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert on their own are ratings disasters given their salaries, but together they could be anti-Trump late-night powerhouses. I double-dare Weiss or anyone on her staff to explore that possibility.
6. From Seagram to Skydance: How Rich Kids Squander Empires
Edgar Bronfman Jr. sold off his family’s lucrative DuPont stock holdings to buy entertainment clout—and torched billions in the process. Now David Ellison, armed with daddy’s Oracle billions, is chasing the same Hollywood validation. The strategy didn’t work for the Bronfmans, it didn’t work for AT&T CEO John Stankey, and it’s too early to tell if Ellison will fare much better. It’s telling that Weiss was savvy enough to demand some cash up front, not just Paramount stock.
7. Elon Musk: America’s False Prophet
Elon Musk is reportedly close buddies with Larry Ellison; the two are said to dine regularly at Nobu in Silicon Valley. Musk promises Mars colonies while Tesla recalls cars, lectures the press on honesty while suing organizations that challenge him, and calls himself a free-speech warrior while silencing critics. With papa Ellison calling the shots, Musk can expect kid-glove treatment from The Free Press, and he’ll reciprocate by granting it an EXCLUSIVE interview.
8. AI: Silicon Valley’s Fool’s Gold
Savvy reporters are dutifully noting the pie-in-the-sky financials fueling AI’s “growth.” Oracle’s deal with ChatGPT’s parent company sent its moribund stock soaring, proof that hype still trumps reality. Don’t expect The Free Press to dig too deeply into this boom; criticizing AI exuberance might injure the financial hand that feeds it.
9. Brendan Carr: Trump’s FCC Mafioso
Even Sen. Ted Cruz chastised FCC chair Brendan Carr for sounding like a mafia boss when he threatened ABC with retaliation over Jimmy Kimmel’s misguided Charlie Kirk comment. Going forward, Carr can expect gentle handling from The Free Press.
10. The Corporate Media Circle of Life
Disrupt the system, build a following, sell to the system, and then become the system. The Free Press once stood for speaking truth to power. Now it’s an integral part of the Establishment. The transition is as American as apple pie.