Welcome to another episode of Conversations with Coleman, now produced by the Free Press.

If you're a longtime listener and don't know much about the free press, this episode will give you great context because I'm interviewing its founder, Barry Weiss.

Most of the conversation is about her vision for the FP as an institution, where she thinks it fits in the modern media landscape,

how her vision has changed over time, and how she plans to execute that vision.

We also talk about her position on the Trump administration and her ongoing concerns about

anti-Semitism. So without further ado, Barry Weiss.

Thank you. anti-Semitism. So without further ado, Barry Weiss.

Barry Weiss. Thanks so much for coming on my show.

Coleman Hughes. I'm so excited to be here. All right. So you probably don't need an introduction or a backstory on this particular

podcast for many reasons. But let's just start with the origins of the free press where my

podcast is now produced. Do you remember, was there a specific moment when you had the idea for

the free press? And what was the idea initially, how, if at all, has it changed in its actual unfolding?

First of all, I'm so excited to be sitting across from you.

And in the free press newsroom, it's extremely exciting for me.

Just a huge admirer of yours and very, very excited to have you in the mix.

When I left the New York Times, I had absolutely no plan at all. All I knew was that the thing

I had seen was intolerable to me and that I didn't want to be a fig leaf for something that I felt had become sort of corrupt.

And most fundamentally that the whole reason I became a journalist was to pursue my curiosity.

And if I wasn't going to be able to do that, what was the point?

In retrospect, when I wrote that viral resignation letter, I, like, should have had a little widget.

It was like, give me your email and follow along to see what I'll do next.

The business would have been much further along by this point had I done that.

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