Free Republic

Alfonsi's immigration piece needed additional reporting, Editor in Chief Bari Weiss told CBS staff

When the people vote against democracy.The social media hashtag #NeverTrump first appeared in June 2015, days after Donald Trump announced his presidential candidacy. For the balance of that year, social media derision attracted less attention than Trump himself, mostly due to the widespread belief that Trump’s campaign was self-extinguishing, which argued against pointless efforts to bring about an already inevitable defeat. In election cycles since Ronald Reagan’s 1984 landslide victory, unlikely protest candidates for the GOP presidential nomination—Pat Robertson, Ron Paul, Herman Cain—had briefly surged in the polls, only to give way to a conventional politician who ended up as...

We’ve reported extensively on the shenanigans at CBS News, the network that was forced to fork over $16 million in July to settle Trump’s lawsuit concerning their deceptive editing of a Kamala Harris interview a month before the 2024 presidential election. Much drama ensued at the outlet as veteran diehards continued to insist that resisting Trump and spewing anti-American rhetoric was part of their job description. Give credit, however, to David Ellison, Chairman and CEO of Paramount (Skydance Corporation), who brought on independent journalist, former NY Times opinion editor, and nowadays free thinker Bari Weiss to oversee the hopelessly biased...

CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss hired ABC News reporter Matt Gutman, who called Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk’s alleged assassin’s text messages with his transgender boyfriend “touching,” to become a chief correspondent. Gutman apologized for making the remarks about the text messages, in which he described during a Sept. 16 segment that Tyler Robinson, who is alleged to have killed Kirk, expressed his love to his trans-identifying lover, Lance Twiggs. He will now leave ABC News to report for “CBS Mornings,” “CBS Evening News,” serve as a lead correspondent for “48 Hours” and contribute to “60 Minutes,” according to...

Bari Weiss, the new editor-in-chief at CBS News, is already making waves.The founder and editor of The Free Press and former New York Times columnist has adopted a rallying cry in meetings with colleagues, according to the Wall Street Journal.: "I wanna blow this up." Weiss's plan "is working to overhaul the organization’s evening news program, counter what she sees as a left-leaning bias in legacy media and make the newsroom operate more efficiently," reports the Journal. Paramount Global and its new boss, Dave Ellison, recently acquired CBS in a deal that was harshly criticized by other legacy media outlets....

The new editor-in-chief of CBS News wants Fox News anchor Bret Baier to helm the channel's flagship evening news program, network sources have revealed. Bari Weiss floated The Special Report star's name along with several others during high-level talks meant to find a fresh face for the broadcaster after Maurice DuBois and John Dickerson stepped in for Norah O'Donnell in January, insiders told Status. Ratings for CBS Evening News have dropped from 4.8 million to 4.1million since. Weiss, 41, has begun 'quietly canvassing' the industry as a result, sources said. The news comes after Weiss was minted as CBS News'...

Accused murderer Tyler Robinson 'clearly' had 'leftist ideology,' Utah gov has said CBS News has quietly deleted a tweet of an interview in which an anchor claimed that the motive of Charlie Kirk's alleged assassin, Tyler Robinson, "remains elusive," even though Utah governor Spencer Cox (R.) has revealed that Robinson "clearly" had a "leftist ideology." "Five days after Charlie Kirk's murder, the shooter's motive remains elusive—no writings left behind, vague, secondhand testimony," CBS Evening News Plus anchor John Dickerson said Monday, according to a video included in the now-deleted X post. Dickerson went on to describe Kirk's assassination "may share...

NEW YORK (AP) — Skydance and Paramount officially closed their $8 billion merger on Thursday — kicking off the reign of a new entertainment giant after a contentious, over year-long endeavor to get the transaction over the finish line. The new company — which will trade under the “PSKY” ticker on Wall Street — brings Paramount’s legacy Hollywood footprint, major TV networks like CBS and MTV, streaming services and more under the roof of a new power player: billionaire Skydance founder David Ellison. “Today marks an exciting and pivotal moment as we prepare to bring Paramount’s legacy as a Hollywood...

Former CBS Evening News anchor Dan Rather weighed in on David Ellison’s hire of Bari Weiss as editor in chief at CBS News, warning that it portends a culture of fear in the news division as staffers worry about their jobs. On his Substack, Steady, Rather put Weiss’ hire in the context of the Skydance-Paramount merger, noting that the companies bowed to pressure from the Trump administration in order to get the transaction approved by the FCC. “That deal and the hiring of Weiss signals to everyone, especially to the man in the Oval Office, that CBS is no longer...

… In this country, guns are symbols of freedom. The right to bear arms is enshrined in the Second Amendment of the Constitution. For many, this right is more than historical; it is existential. It guarantees self-defense, deters tyranny, preserves sovereignty over government, and empowers citizens to resist oppression. This is why the U.S. has an estimated 120 firearms for every 100 people—meaning there are more guns than people in this country. The tension between freedom and safety sits at the heart of our next live debate, which we’re putting on with support from the Foundation for Individual Rights and...

If you’re old enough to have admired CBS in its heyday, watching its decline has been painful.Decades ago, it was dubbed the Tiffany Network – home of the great journalist Walter Cronkite (“the most trusted man in America”), and innovator of the top-flight magazine program, 60 Minutes.Even outside its news division, the network was a place where the variety-show host Ed Sullivan could break down racial exclusion by inviting outstanding Black entertainers to his Sunday night program; that was controversial in an era of intense racial turmoil. The CBS news department had some of the best journalists in the nation,...

Journalist Bari Weiss has taken over CBS news, which may be the end of journalism as we know it. Sources say she is already making aggressive changes to the network. Here is a list of terrifying changes she presented to her employees: 1. Effective immediately, each journalist gets three libels and you're out: This is unreasonably strict. 2. Going forward, reporters are required to include at least one true fact in all stories: This could slow down news production drastically. 3. Feelings no longer count as a valid source: Sources have to be actual living people. 4. Style change when...

The terror group’s sudden openness to Trump’s peace plan is the product of his decision to flip the diplomatic script: advancing peace by negotiating with Israel’s Arab neighbors.The Middle East could be on the verge of a major turning point. On Friday, Hamas signaled openness to Donald Trump’s 20-point plan to end the war in Gaza. On Monday, mediators will convene in Egypt to facilitate indirect peace talks between Hamas and Israel. On the table: the possible release of all remaining Israeli hostages, the transfer of control over Gaza away from Hamas, and a permanent ceasefire. But Hamas’s conditions for...

When I saw this headline in the WSJ — “Fractious Democrats Show Rare Unity” — I thought, What journalist who has been alive the last sixteen years would write that? Then, as I searched for the article, I found two others with essentially the same headline and storyline. Anybody who watches the Democrats knows that they almost always vote in lockstep. Of course, most journalists, who pretend they are independent, also write in lockstep. This is from the AP: “Democrats embrace a shutdown fight in a rare moment of unity against Trump.”And here is CBS, back in 2004: “Democrats show...

The revamped leadership of CBS News, following the merger between Paramount and Skydance, has elevated a conservative journalist who has upset the legacy media with her own successful center-right career. Bari Weiss, founder of The Free Press, will take the reins at CBS News in the coming days, say sources familiar with her selection. Her upstart news site, which has defied the trend of declining subscriptions across the industry, will also be acquired. Weiss, a 41-year-old former opinion writer for the New York Times, built The Free Press out of her own volition back in early 2021, riding a growing...

If Christa Gail Pike's execution proceeds as planned next year, she will become the first woman put to death in Tennessee since the state began to formally document capital punishment more than a century ago. After attempted appeals by Pike's attorneys repeatedly failed, the Tennessee Supreme Court on Tuesday set a date for her to be executed. The order granted a scheduling request from the state for the death warrant to be carried out Sept. 30, 2026, at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville, which houses a majority of Tennessee's death row inmates. Under the terms of this week's...

The American people have woken up to the dangerous and hateful fraud that is the legacy media. According to Gallup, which has measured trust in mass media for 50 years, that trust just hit another record low.Only 28 percent trust the corporate media. (snip) Then there was 2004’s Rathergate—that glorious scandal that exposed CBS News, 60 Minutes, and Dan Rather as hoaxsters and fraudsters, as Democrat Party pimps willing to do anything to destroy a Republican president in the middle of a tight reelection campaign. Everyday people online quickly proved that the documents CBS produced to prove George W. Bush...

The Nevada Supreme Court unanimously (7-0) rejected the NFL's request to rehear its decision to allow Jon Gruden's lawsuit against the league to proceed in public. It's another significant win for Gruden, who sued the league and commissioner Roger Goodell in 2021, claiming a "malicious and orchestrated campaign" was organized to destroy Gruden's career by leaking his old emails that included offensive language. The lawsuit was filed shortly after Gruden resigned as Raiders coach. ESPN's Don Van Natta Jr. was the first to report on the development. In August, the Nevada Supreme Court ruled in favor of Gruden, 5-2, that...

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) had a meltdown Thursday morning when a CBS host challenged the Democratic Party's denials about the Democrats wanting to provide free healthcare to illegal immigrants. During the interview, Tony Dokoupil confronted Warren with claims that Republicans say Democrats are fighting for taxpayer dollars to fund healthcare for illegal aliens. Dokoupil stated, "I know that's not strictly true, but there is a provision—" Warren nearly blew a gasket and interrupted, practically shouting, "Not... Oh, excuse me. Not strictly true." When Dokoupil attempted to continue, she cut in again more forcefully, insisting, “It is a flat-out lie. It...

A biologist has filed a federal lawsuit challenging her firing by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission because of a post on a personal social media account after the murder of conservative leader Charlie Kirk. Brittney Brown, who worked for the commission studying shorebirds and seabirds in the area of Tyndall Air Force Base in the Panhandle, alleges in the lawsuit that her firing on Sept. 15—five days after Kirk was shot during an appearance at a Utah university—violated her First Amendment rights.(snip) The lawsuit said Brown was fired after reposting on her Instagram account a post from an...