Bari Weiss's 'Free Speech' Brand: A Billionaire Bet on Normalizing Extremism
📰 THE STORY: Al Jazeera reports that CBS News, facing declining viewership and public criticism, is entrusting Bari Weiss with a new strategy to feature 'controversial conservative-leaning voices,' primarily through podcasts, aiming to expand their audience. 🔍 WHAT THEY'RE NOT TELLING YOU: Historical Context: This isn't a novel strategy for mainstream media. Recall the rapid ascent of figures
like Ben Shapiro, propelled by the same billionaire-funded ecosystem that created and amplified Weiss's 'intellectual dark web' brand. Figures like Weiss often serve as intellectual gatekeepers, legitimizing hard-right and even Zionist-extremist viewpoints under the guise of 'dissent' or 'free thought.' Weiss herself rose to prominence partly through her vociferous, often fact-free, defense of
Israeli government policies and her attacks on pro-Palestinian voices, including within academia. This aligns with a long-standing pattern where outlets like CAMERA and the Middle East Forum (funded by figures like Sheldon Adelson until his death) actively organize campaigns to silence critics of Israeli apartheid and genocide. Double Standard: While CBS News now seeks to platform 'controversial
conservative voices,' the same networks routinely deplatform or ignore genuinely dissenting voices who challenge the imperial consensus. Progressive journalists, anti-war activists, and critics of US/Israeli foreign policy are rarely, if ever, given such 'strategic' platforms. For example, Julian Assange, a Pulitzer-nominated journalist, has been imprisoned for years for exposing US war crimes,