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Chicago journalist Jennifer Schulze on the changes at CBS: Goodbye Cronkite, Hello Trump.
This was recommended as a must-read by Will Bunch.
https://jenniferschulze.substack.com/p/cronkite-whos-he-its-trumps-news
-snip-
News is not the Ellisons’ business. But they do have a lot of businesses. Businesses that benefit from government favor. I can almost hear the conversation in one of their many mansions. What do you give a President who has everything? And just like that, CBS news ended up in a box with a cute ribbon. Next thing you know, Trump forces the sale of TikTok to the Ellisons and a whole lot more is now on the table.
The Bari Weiss wrecking ball
MAGA-coded Bari Weiss is Ellison’s perfect accomplice. Journalist Elizabeth Spiers describes Weiss as a designated courtier, a feckless water carrier for the 1-percent and someone who is “producing a line of propaganda masquerading as news coverage that serves the interest of her patrons—in this case, David Ellison, whose interests are served by protecting Donald Trump.” Add that to Weiss’ news-free resume and a career built on a visceral hatred of mainstream news media (including CBS News) and you can see how burning down the house of Murrow, Cronkite, Couric and Stahl is right up her alley.
It also helps that she has gained serious MAGA cred for her support of Trump. Anyone who fell for the feint that Weiss was “politically homeless” has not been paying attention. Journalist Matt Johnson did an excellent, deep dive into Weiss and calls her ‘Free Press’ blog a “more artful and less shrill version of the anti-woke alarmism that permeates the right-wing media ecosystem.”
A portal to MAGA-coded junk
The CBS makeover has gone far beyond just slanting the news. It has become a portal pushing viewers to MAGA junk that masquerades as news. Because of Weiss, any news story by a CBS journalist now links to at least two companion pieces by the non-journalists at the Free Press. It isn’t just individual stories. The CBS News website now has a big section that features Free Press content. And it isn’t just on the web. Cos-play journalists from the conservative opinion site now show up on CBS News programs promoting their very weak and often distorted stories.
-snip-
News is not the Ellisons’ business. But they do have a lot of businesses. Businesses that benefit from government favor. I can almost hear the conversation in one of their many mansions. What do you give a President who has everything? And just like that, CBS news ended up in a box with a cute ribbon. Next thing you know, Trump forces the sale of TikTok to the Ellisons and a whole lot more is now on the table.
The Bari Weiss wrecking ball
MAGA-coded Bari Weiss is Ellison’s perfect accomplice. Journalist Elizabeth Spiers describes Weiss as a designated courtier, a feckless water carrier for the 1-percent and someone who is “producing a line of propaganda masquerading as news coverage that serves the interest of her patrons—in this case, David Ellison, whose interests are served by protecting Donald Trump.” Add that to Weiss’ news-free resume and a career built on a visceral hatred of mainstream news media (including CBS News) and you can see how burning down the house of Murrow, Cronkite, Couric and Stahl is right up her alley.
It also helps that she has gained serious MAGA cred for her support of Trump. Anyone who fell for the feint that Weiss was “politically homeless” has not been paying attention. Journalist Matt Johnson did an excellent, deep dive into Weiss and calls her ‘Free Press’ blog a “more artful and less shrill version of the anti-woke alarmism that permeates the right-wing media ecosystem.”
A portal to MAGA-coded junk
The CBS makeover has gone far beyond just slanting the news. It has become a portal pushing viewers to MAGA junk that masquerades as news. Because of Weiss, any news story by a CBS journalist now links to at least two companion pieces by the non-journalists at the Free Press. It isn’t just individual stories. The CBS News website now has a big section that features Free Press content. And it isn’t just on the web. Cos-play journalists from the conservative opinion site now show up on CBS News programs promoting their very weak and often distorted stories.
-snip-
This is a must-read from Jennifer
— Will Bunch (@willbunch.bsky.social) 2026-01-21T13:43:30.229Z