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CBS News is set to hand over its reins to The Free Press co-founder Bari Weiss as Paramount acquires her company for $155M. David Ellison, CEO of Paramount called Weiss "a proven champion of independent, principled journalism." He's confident her "entrepreneurial drive and editorial vision will invigorate CBS News." As editor-in-chief of CBS News, Weiss is to shape editorial priorities, champion core values across platforms, and lead innovation in how the organization reports and delivers the news. Weiss will report directly to Ellison and partner with CBS News president Tom Cibrowski, who reports to Paramount chair of TV media, George Cheeks. Weiss left her job at the Wall Street Journal to follow her boss Brett Stephens to the New York Times. She exited the paper in 2020, claiming that she had been “bullied” by liberal colleagues for her more conservative viewpoints. Expectedly, her leadership of CBS News has raised the ire of many liberal journalists. Founded in 2021, The Free Press has 1.5M subscribers, of which 170K of them are paid. Paramount is breaking down the site's paywall gthourgh October 12 for a special Free Press "free week."
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C-SPAN comes on board as an official media partner of the U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission, the bipartisan Commission charged by Congress to lead the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. C-SPAN will carry America250 Commission events across all its platforms — television, web, social media, YouTube, radio, and podcasts. The network says it will provide a minimum of 48 hours of dedicated America250 programming each week across its television networks. “This partnership is a continuation of C-SPAN’s enduring commitment to civic education and transparency, ensuring all Americans can take part in the nation’s 250th anniversary,” said C-SPAN CEO Sam Feist.
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A new Gallup survey says that the level of trust that US audiences have in the media has hit a new low. Only 28 percent of those surveyed said that they had a “great deal” or “fair amount” of trust in newspapers, television and radio. That number is down from 31 percent and 40 percent five years ago. On the flip side, 36 percent said that they had “not very much” confidence in the media, and 40 percent they had no confidence at all. When Gallup started measuring trust in the media in the 1970s, between 68 percent and 72 percent of respondents said they had confidence in reporting. However, by 2004, the number has dropped to 44 percent. For Republicans, the trust number descended into the single digits (eight percent), while 51 percent of Democrats said they trust the media. In addition, respondents 65 and older voiced a significantly higher level of trust (43 percent) than did any younger age group. “With confidence fractured along partisan and generational lines, the challenge for news organizations is not only to deliver fair and accurate reporting, but also to regain credibility across an increasingly polarized and skeptical public,” the study’s authors say.
Trump Media and Technology Group Corp. has replaced CEO and former California Congressman Devin Nunes with Kevin McGurn, a seasoned media sales executive.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is being bought by the Venetoulis Institute for Local Journalism, a nonprofit that is the parent organization of the Baltimore Banner... The British Broadcasting Corporation is axing approximately 2,000 jobs, about 10 percent of its work force... Snap, the company behind Snapchat, is also succumbing to layoff fever, announcing plans to lay off 16 percent of its employees, about 1,000 people.
CBS News Radio will go off the air on May 22, part of the axe-swinging managerial plan put into play by CBS editor-in-chief Bari Weiss... The Economist, which was first published in 1843, is changing hands. Canadian billionaire Stephen Smith has agreed to acquire a 26.9 percent stake in the publication from Lady Lynn Forester de Rothschild, her family and family foundation... Nexstar Media Group says it has closed its acquisition of TEGNA, the broadcast, digital media and marketing services company that was formed in 2015, when the Gannett Company split into two publicly traded companies.
USA TODAY brings on Jamie Stockwell as VP of news, effective March 30. Stockwell was most recently deputy managing editor of news for the Washington Post... YouTube expands its likeness detection capabilities to a pilot group of government officials, journalists and political candidates... The AP Fund for Journalism adds 50 news organizations to its local news program, bringing the total number of participating newsrooms to 100. 
Versant Media Group, the NBCUniversal cable TV spin-off, today reported its first financial results as 2025 revenues dipped 5.3 percent to $6.7B and standalone EBITDA dropped 9.1 percent to $2.2B.
