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https://www.wsj.com/business/media/bari-weisss-surging-news-startup-lures-readers-miffed-at-media-coverage-of-israel-07861ea4

Bari Weiss’s Surging News Startup Lures Readers Miffed at Media Coverage of Israel

At the Free Press, the site launched by the former New York Times opinion editor, traffic and subscriptions have surged during Israel-Hamas war

Bari Weiss, on stage at the Miami Book Fair in 2019. Alberto E. Tamargo/Sipa USA/Associated Press

By Alexandra Bruell

Nov. 30, 2023 9:00 am ET

Bari Weiss realized that her news startup, the Free Press, was attracting a lot of attention with its coverage of the Israel-Hamas war when famous people started citing its work on social media.

Music executive Scooter Braun shared a Free Press video about a hostage taken by Hamas. Comedian Chelsea Handler shared on Instagram Free Press’s “Voices from Gaza” video that showed a young Gazan describing Hamas as a barrier that must be removed. Cookbook author Jessica Seinfeld posted a column by Weiss about antisemitism following the start of the war, with the comment, “Bari got me straight about liberal America today.”