As CBS News undergoes a regime change under Paramount‘s new ownership, John Oliver is alarmed by the new hire.
With David Ellison‘s takeover and subsequently appointing Bari Weiss to editor-in-chief of CBS News, the comedian used Sunday’s Last Week Tonight to call out her questionable op-ed background at The New York Times and her own outlet, The Free Press, as well as her outspoken stance against DEI.
“The truth is, we wouldn’t even have done this story were it not for the fact that Bari Weiss has just been named editor-in-chief of CBS News, and that feels different,” he noted at the end of Sunday’s episode. “Because there are many opinion-heavy outlets out there, from left to right, and with low to high editorial standards.
“This show is, among other things, an opinion outlet, and while our staff works incredibly hard to research stories before we write something and vigorously check our facts afterwards. We’re also not the news, and I wouldn’t want anyone who led a pure opinion outlet, not even one that I happened to agree with, to suddenly be running CBS News.”
Oliver added, “But, it is especially alarming to have someone doing it that has spent years putting out work that, in my opinion, is at best, irresponsible, and at worst, deeply misleading.”
Noting that the fact Ellison is also preparing a bid for CNN and HBO under a potential Warner Bros. Discovery merger “isn’t ideal” for his own show, Oliver added, “Although, I’ve gotta say, if what he likes about Bari is that she forces him to have hard conversations, to get a bit uncomfortable, maybe he’ll like this.”
Deadline reported last week that Paramount purchased The Free Press, naming its founder the new head of CBS News.
