On the Media The Rapid Rise of Bari Weiss
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Dec 31, 2025 
Peter Shamshiri, co-host of If Books Could Kill, dives into the meteoric rise of Bari Weiss, the new editor in chief of CBS News. He discusses her controversial academic activism at Columbia and highlights her transition from the New York Times to founding The Free Press. Shamshiri critiques the site's perceived neutrality amid its conservative leanings and examines its rapid subscriber growth and funding from Silicon Valley. The conversation touches on the framing of narratives in media and the intriguing parallels between the woke left and right.
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Early Campus Confrontations
- As an undergraduate, Bari Weiss helped found Columbians for Academic Freedom and challenged Middle Eastern studies professors.
- That campus activism framed her early pattern of claiming free-speech principles while targeting academics for their views.
The 'Agree Then Criticize' Formula
- Bari Weiss crafts columns that start from liberal agreement then pivot to sustained criticism to give readers permission to dissent.
- That rhetorical move becomes a signature strategy throughout her career.
Fringe Figures Framed As Mainstream
- Weiss highlighted fringe figures within the Women's March to paint the broader movement as tainted by extremism.
- Peter Shamshiri argues she stretched isolated associations into sweeping critiques of the left.