Paramount Skydance is poised to name Bari Weiss as editor in chief of CBS News in the coming days — giving the hard-charging journalist unusual clout to revamp the struggling network as it also acquires her scrappy news site the Free Press, The Post has learned.
Weiss — a 41-year-old former New York Times opinion writer who has built the Free Press into a buzzworthy site with a contrarian bent — is expected to be named to the top post in a Monday announcement, although the talks are in flux and the timing could change, a source close to the situation said.
In a remarkable reshuffle of CBS News’ decades-old management structure, Weiss will report directly to Paramount Skydance Chief Executive David Ellison as she helps set the editorial direction at the Tiffany Network’s third-place news division, a source close to the situation said.
Weiss’s direct line to Ellison means she will not report to CBS News president Tom Cibrowski, who currently reports to George Cheeks, chair of TV media at Paramount Skydance. No further details could be immediately learned about how Weiss would work with Cibrowski.
Insiders said the hiring of Weiss casts doubts on speculation about the possible return of former CBS President David Rhodes to the network, with one source saying their job candidacies were an “either/or” situation.
Sources told The Post that Weiss could be a strong counterpart to Cibrowski, a former “Good Morning America” executive who is regarded more as a production wizard than a journalist.
Others said they expect it will only be a matter of time before Weiss — who has emerged as a leading voice against antisemitism and the “woke” elites in mainstream media — zeroes in on Cibrowski’s job.
“Bari is extremely ambitious. Tom had better watch out,” a source close to both parties said.
As previously reported, Paramount Skydance is expected to acquire The Free Press in a deal valued at around $150 million. Sources said the transaction is expected to include a mix of stock and cash and will include earn-out provisions to reach its full value.
A source with knowledge said The Free Press will remain a standalone property operating separate from CBS News and owned by Paramount. It is unclear if the site will eventually be integrated into CBS News’ digital site.
Either way, it appears clear that Weiss is likely to take a major role steering the editorial coverage of the network. It is unclear whether Weiss — who has a podcast, “Honestly with Bari Weiss” and a column in The Free Press — will take on an additional journalistic presence at CBS News.
A Paramount Skydance spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
Others expect the new leadership structure to create a strain on the already “dug in” culture at CBS at programs like “60 Minutes,” which recently elevated longtime assistant Tanya Simon to executive producer.
“It would be like dropping a grenade” in the newsroom, one former CBS News veteran told The Post last month, of Weiss’ addition to the network.
“They are used to doing things their way,” another source said of CBS News and “60 Minutes” veteran staffers.
News of a potential partnership has sparked anger at the news division, which has been under fire over its alleged left-leaning bias.
Weiss has been closing in on a deal with Ellison for roughly a year, sources told The Post, but his overtures grabbed the attention of the media when the two were spotted in July at the Allen & Co. summit, known as the “summer camp for billionaires,” in Sun Valley, Idaho.
As previously reported by The Post, Ellison first approached Weiss about taking a top role at “60 Minutes” as he looks to make major changes at the organization that will bring more conservative voices to the network.
As part of Ellison’s post-merger reset, Skydance Paramount recently named Kenneth R. Weinstein as CBS News ombudsman — a Federal Communications Commission condition aimed at addressing bias complaints.
Weeks before the merger was approved by the FCC, Paramount agreed to pay $16 million to settle a lawsuit brought by Donald Trump over alleged biased editing of a “60 Minutes” interview with Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris shortly before the election.
The network denied any wrongdoing, but it eventually settled the lawsuit with Ellison sweetening the deal by agreeing to throw in an additional $20 million in pro-MAGA advertising to get the deal done, Trump has said.
Aside from the Harris scandal, the network was forced to fend off calls of bias over its Israel coverage, which roiled the company’s then-controlling shareholder Shari Redstone.
Last October, “CBS Mornings” co-host Tony Dokoupil was thrust into the spotlight after a tense interview with author Ta-Nehisi Coates, who described Israel as a state built on “apartheid” and “ethnocracy.”
Dokoupil, who is Jewish and has two children living in Israel, slammed Coates for omitting historical context — to the shock of “CBS Mornings” staff, who later complained to network brass.
Adrienne Roark, the president of the news division at the time, rebuked Dokoupil in an all-hands meeting on Oct. 7 — the two-year anniversary of Hamas’ deadly attack on Israel — saying his work didn’t meet the standards of the network.
Months later, “60 Minutes” aired a controversial segment featuring State Department officials who quit over American support for Israel’s efforts to root out Hamas terrorists in Gaza — a piece the American Jewish Committee blasted as “shockingly one-sided, lacked factual accuracy, and relied heavily on misguided information.”
