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The Free Press (Bari Weiss media)

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The Free Press
FormerlyCommon Sense (2021–2022)
Company typeNews media
FoundedJanuary 2021; 4 years ago (January 2021)
Founders
HeadquartersNew York, New York, United States
Websitethefp.com

The Free Press (The FP, originally as Common Sense) is an American Internet-based media company based in New York, New York, founded by journalist Bari Weiss and her spouse Nellie Bowles.[1][2] The company started as a newsletter in 2021,[3][4] and grew into an associated media company in 2022.[1]

History

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Origins

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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. Within a week, the newsletter had brought in $80,000 in annual subscription revenue. Weiss described Common Sense as a "newsletter for the 21st century". By October, the newsletter had more than 100,000 subscribers, including enough paying subscribers to hire a staff of five people.[1][3][5][6] The newsletter was named after the political pamphlet of the same name by Thomas Paine.[4] It covers politics, culture, and current events.[7][8][9][10]

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.[11]

In June 2021, as part of Common Sense, Weiss launched the Honestly podcast, which has since featured guests including Kim Kardashian, Bill Barr, and Andrew Yang.[12][13]

Rebrand as The Free Press

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Weiss rebranded Common Sense as The Free Press in 2022.[7][8] 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.[7][8] 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] Journalists and writers who have written for The Free Press include Emily Yoffe,[1] Michael Shellenberger,[1] and Joe Nocera. Regular contributors include Douglas Murray and Vinay Prasad.[citation needed]

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 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]

Events

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The Free Press expanded into events in 2023, holding its first event in September 2023—a debate over the sexual revolution featuring Grimes, Louise Perry, Anna Khachiyan, and Sarah Haider. The sold-out event at the Ace Hotel in Los Angeles was attended by 1,600 people.[14] During 2024, The Free Press held live debate events in San Francisco, Dallas, Washington, D.C. and New York City.[19]

Reception

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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.[11][20] As of December 2024, The Free Press had over 136,000 paid subscribers and was taking in at least $10 million annually.[15]

Conservative commentator Andrew Sullivan has criticized The Free Press for what he views as its reluctance to stand up for the free-speech rights of anti-Israel activists.[21] Writing for The New Statesman, Ross Barkan described the organization as "unapologetically hawkish and anti-Palestinian".[22]

Coverage

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The founding of the University of Austin was first announced in then Common Sense in an article by founding president Pano Kanelos.[23][24][25]

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.[12][26] The information Weiss discussed included blacklisting of accounts and suppression of trending topics.[6][27] Bari Weiss, Matt Taibbi, and Michael Shellenberger shared the inaugural Dao Prize for Excellence In Investigative Journalism, awarded by the National Journalism Center, for their Twitter Files coverage.[28][29]

In early 2023, Megan Phelps-Roper hosted a podcast series at The Free Press titled The Witch Trials of J. K. Rowling, featuring interviews with Rowling and others on all sides of the cultural conflicts surrounding the author and her views on transgender people.[30][31] The podcast series had over 5 million listeners.[32]

In late 2023, articles from The Free Press condemned the attack on Israel by Hamas and criticized mainstream media coverage of the ensuing war for what it says is the spread of misinformation.[33][29] Around October 22, Weiss alleged that vandals scrawled antisemitic graffiti outside the office of The Free Press.[34]

In 2024, The Free Press first reported on a video of NYU professor Amin Husain denying sexual and gender-based violence in the 7 October attack on Israel and describing New York as a "Zionist city" at a Students for Justice in Palestine rally. NYU suspended Husain after the video and news story were publicized.[35]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f Fischer, Sara (2022-12-13). "Bari Weiss reveals business plan for buzzy new media startup". Axios. Retrieved 2023-01-28.
  2. ^ Elliott, Vittoria. "Trump's Twitter Ban Was Unfair, but Not for the Reason You Think". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 2023-01-28.
  3. ^ a b Stelter, Brian (2021-10-17). "Bari Weiss' next act: a Substack newsletter that serves as 'the newspaper for the 21st century'". CNN. Retrieved 2023-01-28.
  4. ^ a b Svetkey, Benjamin (2022-12-22). "Bari Weiss's L.A. Adventure". Los Angeles. Retrieved 2023-01-28.
  5. ^ Arends, Brett. "How much? Times walkout Bari Weiss breaks the rules, makes a mint". MarketWatch. Retrieved 2023-01-28.
  6. ^ a b Dodgson, Lindsay. "Musk's media renegades: The anti-establishment writers including Matt Taibbi and Bari Weiss chosen for the 'Twitter Files'". Insider. Retrieved 2023-01-28.
  7. ^ a b c "Can Bari Weiss bite the hand that feeds her?". Semafor. 2022-12-18. Retrieved 2023-01-28.
  8. ^ a b c "McCarthy's Rebellion & The Greene-Gaetz Civil War". Puck. 2022-12-21. Retrieved 2023-01-28.
  9. ^ "Vicious, Demented Animal Cruelty or Social Construct? Who's to Say?". National Review. 2022-09-20. Retrieved 2023-01-28.
  10. ^ Kafka, Peter (2022-08-03). "The newsletter boom is over. What's next?". Vox. Retrieved 2023-01-28.
  11. ^ a b Matt Flegenheimer (11 August 2024). "Bari Weiss Knows Exactly What She's Doing". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Wikidata Q128869565. Retrieved 2024-08-11.
  12. ^ a b Grynbaum, Michael M. (2022-12-05). "Elon Musk, Matt Taibbi, and a Very Modern Media Maelstrom". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-01-28.
  13. ^ "The words GOP lawmakers may never be able to say". Roll Call. 2022-12-02. Retrieved 2023-01-28.
  14. ^ a b Fox, Emily Jane (2023-10-02). "Bari Weiss's Salon for the Disenfranchised Is Just the Beginning for the Free Press". Vanity Fair. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
  15. ^ a b Fischer, Sara (10 December 2024). "The Free Press hires a publisher amid expansion". Axios. Retrieved 12 December 2024.
  16. ^ Cowen, Tyler. "Tyler Cowen: Why I'm Joining The Free Press". www.thefp.com. Retrieved 2025-04-03.
  17. ^ Weiss, Bari. "Bari Weiss: Big News from Our Newsroom". The Free Press. Retrieved 4 April 2025.
  18. ^ Smith, Ben; Tani, Max. "Inside the identity crisis in anti-woke media". Semafor. Retrieved 11 June 2025.
  19. ^ Weiss, Bari. "A Note from Bari—and Our Big Thanksgiving Deal". The Free Press. Retrieved 13 February 2025.
  20. ^ "Independent journalist era takes off". Axios. August 13, 2024.
  21. ^ Lewis, Helen (2025-04-25). "Finally, Someone Said It to Joe Rogan's Face". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2025-04-29.
  22. ^ Barkan, Ross (2025-06-11). "Blind support for Israel has muzzled Bari Weiss's Free Press". New Statesman. Retrieved 2025-07-19.
  23. ^ McHale, Patrick (8 November 2021). "Higher-Education Critics Launch University of Austin". Bloomberg News. Archived from the original on 8 November 2021.
  24. ^ Menchaca, Megan (2021-11-08). "Coming soon: The University of Austin, focused on 'the intrepid pursuit of truth'". Austin American-Statesman. Archived from the original on 2021-11-09.
  25. ^ Kanelos, Pano (2021-11-08). "We Can't Wait for Universities to Fix Themselves. So We're Starting a New One". The Free Press.
  26. ^ Peters, Justin (2022-12-19). "The Great Internet Grievance War the Right Has Wanted Is Here. It Ain't Going Well". Slate Magazine. Retrieved 2023-01-28.
  27. ^ Wulfsohn, Joseph (2022-12-15). "Bari Weiss claps back at critics saying Twitter Files 'cherry-picks' reporting: 'Twitter misled the public'". Fox News. Retrieved 2023-01-28.
  28. ^ "Twitter Files Awarded Inaugural Dao Prize for Excellence In Investigative Journalism". November 2, 2023.
  29. ^ a b Bruell, Alexandra (November 30, 2023). "Bari Weiss's Surging News Startup Lures Readers Miffed at Media Coverage of Israel". The Wall Street Journal.
  30. ^ Spangler, Todd (February 14, 2023). "J.K. Rowling Addresses Backlash to Her Anti-Trans Comments in New Podcast: 'I Never Set Out to Upset Anyone'". Variety. Retrieved April 20, 2023.
  31. ^ Paul, Pamela (February 16, 2023). "In Defense of J.K. Rowling". The New York Times. New York. Retrieved February 19, 2023.
  32. ^ Carman, Ashley (April 21, 2023). "A Podcast About J.K. Rowling's 'Cancellation' Has Reached Over 5 Million Listeners". Bloomberg News.
  33. ^ Weiss, Bari; Wiseman, Oliver (2023-10-18). "When the Misinformation Comes From Inside the House". The Free Press. Retrieved 2023-10-23.
  34. ^ Bari Weiss [@bariweiss] (October 22, 2023). "This was scrawled outside of our offices this week. If the antisemites who did this think it will intimidate me and the journalists of @TheFP, they don't know me, they don't know us, and they have no idea what we stand for" (Tweet). Retrieved 2023-10-23 – via Twitter.
  35. ^ Keene, Louis (2024-01-25). "NYU instructor suspended after denying Oct. 7 atrocities at SJP event". The Forward. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
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