Bari Weiss

Bari Weiss (born March 25, 1984, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S. ) is an American opinion journalist who has written for publications including The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. In 2025 she became the editor in chief of CBS News. Weiss’s political views span the spectrum, creating controversy with her readers and as well as her colleagues: Although she is critical of diversity and inclusion initiatives, she has been supportive of marriage equality and abortion rights. Called a “provocateur the Left loves to hate” by Vanity Fair magazine, Weiss is frequently the subject of or party to heated debates on X (formerly Twitter).

Early years

Weiss was born in Pittsburgh and raised in its Squirrel Hill neighborhood, the oldest of four girls. Her parents, Amy and Lou Weiss, owned a successful business selling carpets. She had her bat mitzvah at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Synagogue, which was the scene of a 2018 mass shooting, which she wrote about movingly for The New York Times. Bari Weiss says her Judaism has provided her with a “road map for how to be courageous.”

After graduating high school Weiss took a gap year in Israel, helping to build a medical clinic and studying at a feminist yeshiva, a Jewish religious school. Weiss went on to attend Columbia University, where she, along with other students, formed a group called Columbians for Academic Freedom, which sought to protest “bullying professors who used their classrooms to promote propaganda and to silence opposing views.” She graduated in 2007 with a degree in history.

Discover the fascinating events that shaped the world, straight from our editors.

SIGN UP

By clicking “Sign Up”, you consent to the Britannica Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

Career and courting controversy

After graduation she worked for Israeli newspaper Haaretz and Jewish newspaper The Forward and became an editor at the online Jewish news magazine Tablet as well as op-ed editor for The Wall Street Journal. In 2013 Weiss joined The Journal as a book review editor.

In a conversation with Rabbi Danny Schiff at an event in Pittsburgh in 2017 Weiss stated that The Journal’s shift to a pro-Donald Trump stance spurred her decision to move to The New York Times, which she did that year, becoming a staff editor and a writer for the opinion section. At The Journal Weiss was on the liberal end of the political spectrum, but with her move to The Times, Weiss became one of the most conservative members of the staff. She describes herself as being “center left on most” issues. Nonetheless at The New York Times, she penned opinions on topics such as campus activism, cultural appropriation, the Women’s March, and the Me Too movement, frequently courting controversy. “There is cachet right now with being a victim,” Weiss said. “Oppression gives you moral high ground and moral standing.”

Weiss has stated that being Jewish “is the most important part of [her] identity.” Throughout her work, Weiss has demonstrated a strong Zionist ideology and has frequently criticized those she sees as engaging in antisemitic behavior or rhetoric, often equating anti-Zionist sentiments with antisemitism. In 2019 she published her first book, How to Fight Anti-Semitism, which provides an overview of different types of antisemitic behavior and suggestions for ways to address it.

Politically, Weiss says she was a “Never Trumper” in 2016 and cried at her desk when he won the election. Her position has changed, she says in part because of the reaction of liberals to Trump, which she described as “overzealous, out-of-touch, hysterical.” She also appreciates Trump’s policy positions on the Middle East and his staunch support of Israel.

Explore Britannica Premium!

The trusted destination for professionals, college students, and lifelong learners.

SUBSCRIBE

After The Times

Weiss resigned from The New York Times in July 2020 by way of a nearly 1,500-word open letter in which she asserted that “Twitter has become [The New York Times’s] ultimate editor” and that stories were written in order to “fit the needs of a predetermined narrative.” She alleged harassment from her colleagues at The Times and described it as a hostile work environment.

In 2021 she launched a podcast, Honestly with Bari Weiss, and her own newsletter called Common Sense, which then became the web-based publication The Free Press. The Free Press website states that the company aims to “publish investigative stories and provocative commentary about the world as it actually is” and asserts, in line with Weiss’s own philosophy: “You won’t agree with everything we run. And we think that’s exactly the point.”

Running CBS News

In October 2025 Paramount Skydance purchased The Free Press for a reported $150 million and named Weiss editor in chief of CBS News. The move was seen as a play on CBS’s part to boost its ratings with Weiss’s business acumen and powerful contacts. It was also seen as a way to fulfill an agreement Skydance had made to the Trump administration to secure its merger with Paramount: to promote a “diversity of viewpoints.” As with Weiss’s previous work, the news of her appointment was met with divided opinions.

In announcing her appointment, Skydance CEO David Ellison, to whom Weiss reports, described her as “a proven champion of independent, principled journalism.” And although some detractors pointed with apprehension to her political views, other criticism was more practical: The new head of CBS News had no experience in broadcast television.

In one of her first high-profile decisions, she canceled the airing of a 60 Minutes segment on El Salvador’s CECOT prison, just hours before it was to be broadcast on December 21, 2025. The segment, which had cleared the program’s editorial review process, was pulled when Weiss said it needed, among other things, an on-camera interview with someone from the Trump Administration. The segment’s chief reporters said the White House, State Department and Homeland Security Department had been asked to comment on the reporting. The administration declined to be interviewed. For her part, Weiss said of her decision: “Holding stories that aren’t ready for whatever reason — that they lack sufficient context, say, or that they are missing critical voices — happens every day in every newsroom.”

In May 2026 Weiss announced the firing of 60 Minutes veteran Tanya Simon as executive producer. Simon was replaced by Nick Bilton, a tech journalist and screenwriter who has no experience in broadcast news. Two of the program’s correspondents—including Sharyn Alfonsi, who had been the reporter on the CECOT story, and a number of producers—were also fired. The firings led to a contentious meeting between Bilton and the 60 Minutes staff, during which Pelley engaged in a heated exchange with Bilton, saying that Weiss’s intention is to end the program. “She is murdering 60 Minutes.…She was brought in to kill it, and she’s been doing exactly that.” A day after the exchange, Bilton announced that Pelley had been fired.

Personal life

Weiss married Jason Kass in 2013; they divorced in 2016. She was also in a relationship with former Saturday Night Live star Kate McKinnon. In 2018 she began a relationship with former New York Times reporter Nellie Bowles, who became one of the cofounders of The Free Press. They are married and have two children.