History
Weiss and Bowles, then a reporter at The New York Times , launched Common Sense as a newsletter on the Substack platform on January 12, 2021, after Weiss resigned from The Times. The publication was named after the political pamphlet of the same name by Thomas Paine. [4] It covers politics, culture, and current events. [6] [7] [8] [9] Weiss described Common Sense as a "newsletter for the 21st century". The Guardian called it "an unshakable pro-Israel voice".
Within a week, the newsletter had brought in $80,000 in annualized subscription revenue. By October, the newsletter had more than 100,000 subscribers, including enough paying subscribers to hire a staff of five people. [1] [3] [10] [11] In March 2022, Weiss raised between $1 million and $5 million to expand the venture from investors such as venture capitalists Marc Andreessen and David Sacks; former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz; Allen & Company; and former Activision CEO Bobby Kotick. [12] Weiss said the company is valued at over $200 million as of 2025. [13]
Rebranding as The Free Press
Weiss rebranded Common Sense as The Free Press in 2022. [6] [7] In 2022, she expanded The Free Press into a media company with a dozen staff and writers as well as contributors and a subscription-based business model. [6] [7] The Free Press also hired Andy Mills, former producer of The Daily, to develop audio programming for the company. [1]
By October 2023, the company employed about 25 staffers in New York City and Los Angeles. [14]
In December 2024, Wall Street Journal editor Dennis K. Berman was hired as the company's first publisher and president. [15] In April 2025, The Free Press added author and economist Tyler Cowen, legal scholar Jed Rubenfeld, writer Coleman Hughes, journalist Matthew Continetti, and author Batya Ungar-Sargon as regular columnists. [16] [17]
In 2025, Semafor reported that journalist Michael C. Moynihan resigned from The Free Press. He was critical of the direction of the publication, saying, "[One] didn't have to be especially prescient to spot those 'anti-woke' types who would just slowly become MAGA flunkies". [18]
Purchase by Paramount
On October 6, 2025, Paramount Skydance, the parent company of CBS News, announced it would acquire The Free Press for roughly $150 million in cash and Paramount stock. [5] Weiss was named to the newly-created position of editor-in-chief of CBS News. [19] [20]
Content
Subscribers
As of August 2024, the site had over 100,000 paid subscribers and over 750,000 total subscribers. Substack confirmed that it was the top newsletter on the platform by revenue. It is also at the top of the leaderboard at Substack for politics. [12] [24] As of December 2024, The Free Press had over 136,000 paid subscribers and was taking in at least $10 million annually. [15]
Reception
The Free Press has drawn both praise and criticism for its editorial stance and coverage. Media critics have described the outlet as occupying a space between mainstream and conservative media, often associated with the "anti-woke" or centrist movements. [31] Some journalists and analysts have argued that the publication's reporting sometimes reflects a pro-Israel perspective or downplays humanitarian issues in Gaza. [32] Others have questioned the outlet’s claims about rising crime in Austin, Texas, suggesting that The Free Press misrepresented or oversimplified local statistics. [33]
The New York Times described The Free Press as "an unflinching alternative to traditional media organizations." [34] David Klion wrote in The Guardian that Bari Weiss "has used The Free Press to empower right-wing factions within established elite institutions" and to suppress progressive and pro-Palestine views. He cited, as an example, the criticism of NPR's reporting on the Trump administration's investigation into alleged antisemitism at Columbia University. [35] After its acquisition by Paramount, John Oliver said on his show Last Week Tonight that one of the main positions of The Free Press is that "the left has gone too far". [36]
In 2025, conservative commentator Andrew Sullivan criticized The Free Press for what he views as its reluctance to stand up for the free speech rights of anti-Israel activists. [37] [38] Writing for The New Statesman , the liberal journalist Ross Barkan described the organization as "unapologetically hawkish and anti-Palestinian". [39] The Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft described the Free Press as "a pro-Israel media outlet often sympathetic to the neoconservative worldview". [40] Politico characterizes it as a "conservative digital media outlet", [41] while CNN describes it as a "conservative-leaning publication". [42]
Following its 2025 acquisition by Paramount Skydance, several commentators raised concerns about potential conflicts of interest and editorial independence, noting that Weiss also assumed the role of editor-in-chief of CBS News. [43] Supporters, however, argue that the merger may broaden The Free Press’s reach and bring new perspectives to mainstream media. [44]
Reporting and events
The founding of the University of Austin was first announced in Common Sense in the year of 2021 article by founding president Pano Kanelos. [45] [46] [47]
In December 2022, The Free Press published information about the Twitter Files , after Twitter CEO Elon Musk provided Weiss with access to records of Twitter's internal communications. [26] [48] The information Weiss discussed included blacklisting of accounts and the suppression of "trending" topics. [11] [49] For their Twitter Files coverage, Bari Weiss, Matt Taibbi, and Michael Shellenberger shared the inaugural Dao Prize for Excellence In Investigative Journalism, awarded by the conservative organization National Journalism Center. [50] [51]
In late 2023, articles from The Free Press condemned the October 7 attacks on Israel and criticized mainstream media coverage of the ensuing war for what it says was the "spread of misinformation." [52] [51]
In 2024, The Free Press first reported on a video of NYU professor Amin Husain, in which he denies sexual and gender-based violence in the 7 October attack on Israel and describes New York as a "Zionist city" at a Students for Justice in Palestine rally. NYU suspended Husain after the video and the report were publicized. [53]
In March 2024, The Free Press stated the crime rate in Austin, Texas had increased under district attorney José Garza when some crime rates had actually gone down. [54] [36] Homicides doubled according to the Austin Statesman. [55]
In August 2025, The Free Press reporters Olivia Reingold and Tanya Lukyanova investigated the pre-existing health problems of Palestinian children starving in the Gaza Strip during the Gaza famine. [56] Reingold received support from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for her reporting. [35] The report was criticized by the president of Refugees International who countered that children with pre-existing conditions were the most susceptible to famine. [35] Drop Site News contacted the families of three of the children investigated by The Free Press. Each family said that their child's medical situation was driven by the famine and not by pre-existing conditions. [57]
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