Lever Time Bari Weiss, CBS News, And The Conservative Media Takeover
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Oct 9, 2025 The podcast dives into the conservative takeover of media, spotlighting Bari Weiss's controversial rise at CBS News. It explores the historical influence of the Powell Memo, which urged corporations to dominate public discourse. The discussion highlights how media consolidation has stifled diverse viewpoints, risking democracy. Listeners are called to support independent journalism as a bulwark against oligarch-fueled narratives. Key takeaways include the need to break up media monopolies and the implications of recent corporate media maneuvers.
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Weiss's Platform Built By Money
- Bari Weiss's Free Press was quickly scaled with billionaire backing rather than grassroots support.
- David Sirota argues that wealth and investors, not pure editorial independence, enabled her rapid ascent.
Powell Memo's Long Shadow
- The CBS appointment fits a decades-old plan to tilt media toward defenders of corporate power dating to the 1971 Powell memo.
- Sirota connects today's hires to a long strategy to curb journalism that scrutinizes elites.
CBS Executive Boasted Of Shaping Coverage
- Sirota recounts a letter from CBS president Arthur Taylor bragging he pressured CBS News to be more pro-business.
- That letter shows early, explicit internal efforts to reshape news coverage in favor of corporate interests.
