A Natural Experiment

Regular readers will know that I often mention The Free Press, an online news/commentary platform founded by one Bari Weiss, after she left the New York Times in disgust at its ideological one-sidedness. TFP has thrived, with some 1.5 million subscribers, and although it certainly runs pieces I think little of, it is in general a source of news and comment of the sort one never gets in the mainstream media. So, I am more than willing to pay $US10/month for access to it. It even has a weekly column on what is going on in Canada, a most refreshing contrast to what The Globe and Mail reports.

We are, however, about to witness what people in my old profession referred to as ‘a natural experiment’ regarding TFP. A long-rumoured purchase of the platform by CBS/Paramount was announced today, and Weiss ran a story in TFP titled ‘The Future of The Free Press’, written by herself.

It seems Weiss got some $150million from CBS/P for her platform, and according to a story about this in the WSJ, CBS has appointed Weiss as ‘editor in chief of CBS News and empowering her to set the storied news organization’s editorial vision’.

The obvious questions here, to me, are – what happens to TFP now, and can Weiss actually alter anything important at CBS News?

I am doubtful about the second thing. CBS/Paramount is one hulking big LBO, so this looks to me like an attempt to change the course of an ocean liner using a rowboat. A very likely outcome in my view is that most of the staff at CBS News will regard Ms. Weiss as an enemy infiltrator and do anything and everything to make her life miserable and prevent any real changes to how things are done, or what gets on the air. The first time she tries to get anything not purely anti-Israel or less than adoring about OAC and her ilk on CBS News, expect a rebellion from the troops.

However, my personal concern is on the other side: what this does to TFP. I have no cable anymore, and have not watched network news in years – a posture which is common to much of North America, by the way.  Weiss’s piece in today’s TFP asserts that this buyout (she will remain as CEO and editor of TFP) will enable the platform to do more and do it more quickly. I am, to say the least, dubious.

So, I will continue my scrip, continue to read TFP, and see how it goes. Stay tuned for more updates as conditions warrant.

Postscript: After posting this, a new thought occurred to me.

While I was in the shower. It happens.

It strikes me that one admittedly cynical explanation of what the CEO of CBS/Paramount is doing with this deal is as follows.

He genuinely wants to change the lefty orientation of CBS News, but he is clueless about how to do it, and afraid of the shit that will hit the fan if he tries. Solution: hire someone who might know how, and bribe her to take it on by giving her a stack of cash (and Paramount stock, apparently) to do it. If it goes badly, and Weiss quits CBS in disgust, CBS/Paramount still has TFP, and Weiss still has the cash.

Win-win. Well, sorta.

We’ll see.