Bari Weiss censoring “60 Minutes” is why she was hired by the oligarchs—but they just getting started!
Independent media is the antidote to this!
People should be outraged that Bari Weiss—in essence the head of CBS News—killed a “60 Minutes” story scheduled to air last Sunday that was critical of the Trump regime sending migrants to a notorious prison in El Salvador. But they should not be surprised. After all, that is why the Trump aligned oligarchs hired her.
Trump “loves” the new owners of Paramount/CBS, Larry Ellison and his son David. He has told us that in the past including at a rally this past Friday where he stated: “I love the new owners of CBS.” You can see how much they “love” each other in the above photo of Larry Ellison and Trump in the White House laughing it up earlier this year.
But Trump has been increasingly upset with how “60 Minutes” has been covering him—so he wanted to make sure that his friend’s the Ellison’s were aware of that. That is why in early December, Trump slammed “60 Minutes” writing about the Ellisons, “Since they bought it, 60 Minutes has actually gotten WORSE!” And Friday at his rally, Trump again attacked the show, telling his supporters, “60 minutes treated me worse under the new ownership… it’s crazy.”
Then came Sunday’s abrupt pulling of the story despite promos having been run during the week touting the segment about El Salvador’s CECOT prison.
There is no doubt why Weiss killed the segment. As “60 Minutes” correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi detailed in a memo that went public, Weiss’s decision to kill the segment was a “political one” to please the Trump regime.
Alfonsi is 100% correct. This is what an oligarchy that controls the media in support of the ruler looks like.
But here is the thing: The Ellison’s—together with Weiss—are just getting started at CBS. And worse, the Ellison’s plans go way beyond CBS--but also include Tik Tok and CNN.
Starting with CBS News, Weiss’s job is to deliver the right wing vision that Ellison believes in from US policies to his staunch support and role as a “close confidant” to Benjamin Netanyahu—including providing Netanyahu with a place to vacation.
Weiss is the perfect person to execute that vision. In the past she has praised the right wing leader of El Salvador despite his violation of human rights—including imprisoning thousands of people without trials.
And when it comes to defending all things Netanyahu and Israel, few can rival Weiss. During the Gaza war, her “The Free Press” defended the starving of Christian and Muslim Palestinian children by trying to put it in “context.” But even before that, Weiss had become infamous for seeking to silence college professors who had expressed support for Palestinian humanity or those critical of Israeli policy.
This also explains why Ellison and Weiss replaced the host of CBS Evening News with Tony Dokoupil—which was met by criticism by CBS staffers given he is viewed by them as being “mediocre.” But as numerous media outlets noted, Dokoupil got the job not based on talent, but “because his views align with Weiss’ pro-Israel stance.”
In fact in October 2024, Dokoupil made headlines after he turned the usually light hearted CBS morning Show into a platform to attack best-selling author Ta-Nehisi Coates for daring to describe Palestinians as human beings and for criticizing the Israeli policy in the West Bank of ethnic cleansing. In response, Weiss’s “The Free Press” slammed CBS news executives for having the audacity to criticize the very pro-Israel Dokoupil. And not only did they attack CBS, Weiss’s publication tried to smear the CBS executives as somehow marking the anniversary of the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack by going after Dokoupil with the headline, “How Is CBS Marking October 7? By Admonishing Tony Dokoupil.”
Now you get why the older Ellison hired her. After all, as The Intercept reported, Ellison is not just a staunch supporter of Israel, he’s a major donor to the Israeli military. As the outlet reported, in 2017, Ellison “donated $16.6 million to Friends of the Israel Defense Forces, what was at the time the nonprofit’s largest single donation ever.”
But Ellison is far from done in attempting to control the narrative to line up with his right wing agenda. Just last week, Trump approved the sale of Tik Tok to a group of investors led by the Ellison and his company Oracle. The new Tik Tok USA board will feature Ellison and other Trump aligned board members including former Oracle CEO Safra Catz who-as The Intercept noted—told Oracle employees in 2021 that if you “don’t agree with our mission to support the State of Israel then maybe we aren’t the right company for them.”
These new Tik Tok board members per Business Insider will be responsible for “content moderation” and “algorithm security.” In other words, they will impact what people see. If what has transpired at CBS is any indication, it will be right wing propaganda.
But wait there is more. Ellison just personally guaranteed the roughly $40 billion bid by Paramount to buy Warner Brothers Discovery-- which would include control of CNN.
It should come as no surprise that Trump is supporting Ellison’s bid to buy Warner Brothers over the competing bid by Netflix. In fact, as The Guardian recently reported, Ellison spoke to the White House about firing certain CNN anchors—obviously in an effort to win even more support from Trump.
Nothing Ellison--or Weiss--is doing is illegal. And to be blunt, oligarchs throughout time in the United States--and in other nations for that matter--have tried to control the media narrative to further their own agenda.
The most current example is Hungary, where Trump’s close ally Viktor Orban has paved the way for his wealthy supporters to buy the major media outlets to help Orban with his political agenda--which in turn furthers their own economic agenda. In fact, just a few months ago, the last large independent media outlet in Hungary was purchased by a company aligned with Orban’s political party. As a result, Orban aligned oligarchs control an estimated 80% of the country’s media outlets.
But here is the thing. Hungary is a nation of a little over 9.5 million people. The population of the United States is nearing 350 million. While the oligarchs--be it Ellison or Elon--can buy and control a swath of media outlets, the media is more democratized than ever.
In fact, this very article you are reading is part of the independent media ecosystem. I’m not saying we should not be concerned by the rise of these oligarchs. We must be. And when Democrats regain power in the White House, we must demand the DOJ break up some of these conglomerates which are clearly a threat to the public interest.
But today, the antidote to the oligarchs is supporting independent media. The more of us, the less they can control the narrative and the more people will learn the truth.
When people are juggling budgets to support their families, on the Fingers-Crossed medical insurance plans, trying to heat homes, pay for skyrocketing electricity - in my home the first cut back will be monthly non-essentials; Paramount, Netflix, YouTube TV. Lived without them before, can live without them again. Fox/CBS is not on the “need” list.
You really hit the bullseye here, Dean. Independent media is our first step out of this nightmare. I can't think of anything more fundamental we can do as a people at this moment than inform ourselves. Glad you cited The Intercept. They, along with Drop Site and The Lever, are my go-to for news. Thank you Dean for being one of my go-to's for context and perspective.
First there was Epstein Island, then came Ellison Island.