The news: Paramount will acquire The Free Press for roughly $150 million and appoint its founder, Bari Weiss, as editor-in-chief of CBS News, the company confirmed Monday.

Weiss launched The Free Press in 2021 after departing The New York Times and has since grown it into a subscriber-funded publication reaching 1.5 million subscribers, including about 175,000 paying members. Under the deal, the outlet will continue to operate independently while Weiss takes on her new leadership role at CBS.

Why it matters: The move brings together two eras of journalism—the institutional power of broadcast news and the audience-first model Weiss built outside it. Her success with The Free Press stemmed from rejecting the traditional newsroom hierarchy and building direct relationships with readers, proving that a single journalist could scale trust and influence independently. Now, Paramount is betting that this model of personality-driven journalism can help revitalize CBS News at a time when public confidence in mainstream media is slipping.

Paramount’s acquisition acknowledges that shift. Weiss isn’t a “creator” in the influencer sense, but her success was born from the same disintermediation that defines the creator economy: Direct distribution, personality-driven content, and loyalty built around a personal brand rather than a corporate one. For CBS News, bringing her back into the fold is a bid to reabsorb that energy—and the audience trust it represents—into the traditional newsroom model.

Why media is changing: Beyond financial and political pressures, trust in news organizations has reached a record low that CBS hopes personality-driven media can address.

• A credibility crisis: 57% of US adults say misinformation is the top factor eroding confidence in the media, per HarrisX data, followed by blurred lines between news and opinion (46%) and sensationalism (44%). And less than 3 in 10 Americans trust the media to report news fully, fairly, and accurately, per Gallup.
• The generational divide: Younger audiences are almost as likely to trust AI-generated news (47%) as journalism from traditional outlets (67%), suggesting legacy networks must rethink how—and who—delivers credibility.
• A premium on creator trust: Substack’s US traffic more than doubled between May 2024 and May 2025, reaching 13.9 million monthly visitors. Its success underscores how direct, personality-driven formats are winning audiences disillusioned with corporate media.

For Paramount, the move mirrors a broader industry pivot toward integrating creator-led journalism to restore relevance. The Ellison-led CBS is positioning itself for what executives call the “actual mainstream”—audiences fatigued by polarization and skeptical of institutional bias.

What this means for advertisers and publishers: For advertisers, the deal reinforces that influence now lives with creators who command trust and engagement that legacy outlets can no longer assume. Partnering with personality-driven journalism could help brands reach audiences fatigued by institutional messaging—but only if that authenticity isn’t diluted under corporate ownership.

For publishers, the move signals that traditional media is leaning on personalities for cultural relevance. Paramount is betting that Weiss’s loyal following can bring CBS News fresh credibility and cultural relevance, turning trust into monetizable reach. But balancing editorial independence with brand safety will be crucial, especially as audiences value a clear divide between news and opinion (see chart).

If CBS and The Free Press can preserve the direct, unfiltered voice that made Weiss successful, the model could become a template for legacy publishers seeking to rebuild both audience and advertiser confidence in an era when individuals, not institutions, drive media trust.