Why Bari Weiss's Boss Is Full of ‘Horseshit’
We break down everything wrong with David Ellison's 'desperate' NYT op-ed. Plus, right-wing media have an Islamophobic meltdown over Abdul El-Sayed's big win in Michigan's Dem primary.
Good evening, and welcome to this week’s ‘Ragebait.’
Justin Baragona here, bringing you the latest media dispatches from the right-wing industrial outrage complex and Bari World. In tonight’s edition, we break down everything that’s wrong with David Ellison’s recent woe-is-me New York Times op-ed about the WarnerMount merger. Plus, ‘60 Minutes’ continues to be a disaster, and MAGA media had a racist, Islamophobic meltdown over Abdul El-Sayed’s victory in Michigan.
Debunking Ellison’s ‘Desperate’ Ploy to ‘Change the Narrative’
“Horseshit.”
That’s what a CNN on-air personality succinctly told me about Paramount CEO David Ellison’s recent New York Times op-ed, which argued that his critics were wrong about his politics and that he’d be a good steward of CNN.
The essay, which a CBS News senior staffer described to Zeteo as “very ill-advised,” came across to several CBS and CNN insiders as a “desperate” ploy to “change the narrative” around the suddenly in-doubt $111 billion merger between Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery.
While CBS and CNN sources I spoke to mocked Ellison’s column for reading as if it were written by a team of lawyers and PR flacks (Breaker’s Lachlan Cartwright revealed investment banker Blair Effron spearheaded the effort), it’s clear the 43-year-old wants to be seen as a misunderstood victim unfairly painted as a right-wing partisan.
But have his views and actions been misconstrued? Have his critics really been unfair to him? Well, I decided to do a bit of “fisking” of Ellison’s op-ed – and it’s clear: his argument doesn’t add up. Let’s take a look: