CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss is looking to make her mark on the network news division, launching a series of primetime town halls and debates alongside Weiss’ The Free Press under the banner “Things That Matter.”
CBS says that Vice President JD Vance, Maryland Governor Wes Moore, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman have all agreed to participate in the town halls, with the debates set to address topics like “Does America Need God?” “Has Feminism Failed Women?” and “Should Gen Z Believe in the American Dream?”
CBS has lined up people like Isabel Brown and Harry Sisson to debate the American dream, Steven Pinker and Ross Douthat to debate the God question, and Liz Plank and Allie Beth Stuckey to debate the feminism question.
“We believe that the vast majority of Americans crave honest conversation and civil, passionate debate,” said Weiss in a statement. “This series is for them. In a moment in which people believe that truth is whatever they are served on their social media feed, we can think of nothing more important than insisting that the only way to get to the truth is by speaking to one another.”
The Things That Matter town halls and debates will kick off in 2026, though no specific dates have been set as of now. Bank of America has signed on to sponsor them. Moore and Vance will talk about the future of the Democratic and Republican parties, respectively, as well as what they see as the state of America.
They follow a town hall that Weiss hosted with Erika Kirk earlier this month. It is not clear if Weiss will host the new series herself, as she did with the Kirk event, or if other talent will join her. The Kirk town hall averaged 1.9 million viewers on CBS.
