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The Free Press (online newsletter)

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For other companies, see Free Press (disambiguation).
The Free Press
FormerlyCommon Sense (2021–2022)
Company typeNews media
FoundedJanuary 2021; 3 years ago (January 2021)
Founders
HeadquartersLos Angeles, California, United States
Websitewww.thefp.com

The Free Press (known as Common Sense between 2021–2022) is an American Internet-based media company based in Los Angeles, California, founded by Bari Weiss and Nellie Bowles.[1][2] The newsletter was first published in 2021[3][4] while its associated media company officially launched in 2022.[1]

History

[edit]

Weiss and Bowles launched Common Sense on Substack in January 2021 after Weiss's resignation from The New York Times.[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 June 2021, as part of Common Sense, Weiss launched the podcast Honestly, which has since featured guests including Kim Kardashian, Bill Barr, and Andrew Yang.[11][12] Other guests have included Benjamin Netanyahu, Chris Christie, Tyler Cowen, Will Hurd, Ro Khanna, Walter Russell Mead, Tim Scott, Larry Summers, Peter Thiel, and Tim Urban.[citation needed]

Weiss rebranded Common Sense as The Free Press in 2022.[7][8] In 2022, she expanded The Free Press into a media company with staff writers (including senior editor Peter Savodnik[13] and Olivia Reingold[14]) 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.[15] 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 January 2024, The Free Press released a documentary called "American Miseducation." The film's synopsis is as follows: "The Free Press correspondent Olivia Reingold travels to America’s most elite colleges—from UPenn to Columbia—to find the origins of campus antisemitism and to ask how the smartest people in the country became the source of so much hate."[16]

In December 2024, The Free Press hired former Wall Street Journal editor Dennis K. Berman as its first publisher and president.[17]

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.[15]

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.[18][19] As of December 2024, The Free Press had over 136,000 subscribers and was taking in at least $10 million annually.[17]

Vanity Fair called The Free Press a "salon for the disenfranchised" in response to the notion that room for certain viewpoints is limited in legacy media.[15]

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.[20][21][22]

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.[11][23] The information Weiss discussed included blacklisting of accounts and suppression of trending topics.[6][24] 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.[25][26]

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.[27][28] The podcast had over 5 million listeners.[29]

In late 2023, articles from The Free Press condemned the attack on Israel by Hamas and criticized legacy media coverage of the ensuing war for the spread of misinformation.[30][26] Around October 22, vandals wrote "Fuck Jews" outside the office of The Free Press.[31][32]

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. As a result, NYU suspended Husain.[33]

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 Business". CNN. Retrieved 2023-01-28.
  4. ^ a b Svetkey, Benjamin (2022-12-22). "Bari Weiss's L.A. Adventure". Lamag - Culture, Food, Fashion, News & 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 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.
  12. ^ "The words GOP lawmakers may never be able to say". Roll Call. 2022-12-02. Retrieved 2023-01-28.
  13. ^ "Peter Savodnik". Staff page. The Free Press. 18 October 2023.
  14. ^ "Olivia Reingold". Staff page. The Free Press. 30 October 2023.
  15. ^ a b c 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.
  16. ^ Hayward, Steven (January 31, 2024). ""AMERICAN MISEDUCATION": TEACHING HATE ON CAMPUS". Powerline.
  17. ^ a b Fischer, Sara (10 December 2024). "The Free Press hires a publisher amid expansion". Axios. Retrieved 12 December 2024.
  18. ^ 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.
  19. ^ "Independent journalist era takes off". Axios. August 13, 2024.
  20. ^ McHale, Patrick (8 November 2021). "Higher-Education Critics Launch University of Austin". Bloomberg News. Archived from the original on 8 November 2021.
  21. ^ 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.
  22. ^ Kanelos, Pano (2021-11-08). "We Can't Wait for Universities to Fix Themselves. So We're Starting a New One". The Free Press.
  23. ^ 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.
  24. ^ 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.
  25. ^ "Twitter Files Awarded Inaugural Dao Prize for Excellence In Investigative Journalism". November 2, 2023.
  26. ^ 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.
  27. ^ 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.
  28. ^ Paul, Pamela (February 16, 2023). "In Defense of J.K. Rowling". The New York Times. New York. Retrieved February 19, 2023.
  29. ^ Carman, Ashley (April 21, 2023). "A Podcast About J.K. Rowling's 'Cancellation' Has Reached Over 5 Million Listeners". Bloomberg News.
  30. ^ Weiss, Bari; Wiseman, Oliver (2023-10-18). "When the Misinformation Comes From Inside the House". The Free Press. Retrieved 2023-10-23.
  31. ^ Farberov, Snejana (23 October 2023). "Vile antisemitic graffiti scrawled outside 'How to Fight Anti-Semitism' author Bari Weiss' office". New York Post.
  32. ^ 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.
  33. ^ 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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