Who is Bari Weiss? The Honestly Host Speaks on State of Journalism, Faith, and the Future of America

Media Roundtable returns with our 2022 season debut featuring an interview with a podcast host who is the walking embodiment of the Media Roundtable values. Bari Weiss is an award-winning journalist and the author of How to Fight Anti-Semitism. Weiss worked as a staff writer and opinion editor for The New York Times until her 2020 principle-driven resignation letter (a must-read) sent her on a path toward independent journalism driving her to create the hit podcast Honestly, and her Substack newsletter, Common Sense. After more than a year of invitations, this week, Bari Weiss joins Media Roundtable to talk about her journey to save journalism and the free exchange of ideas in our democracy.

“I try and be really disciplined about the things that I do because trust is so precious… it is so hard to build and you can fritter it away in a day.”

-Bari Weiss

Weiss does not fit neatly into any category. A quick jaunt through her podcast reviews gathers raves and rants from all sides. What’s admirable is that she’s able to inhabit a middle lane that is not simply the average of what one group wants her to think.

As marketers, when you guide your brand through the world, it’s easy to be afraid of saying or doing the wrong thing. That fearfulness can lead you to stay in the least offensive places. Safe channels that don’t stand for anything and (hopefully) won’t get you in trouble. But that’s also not how you build an audience that trusts you.

Weiss is building her personal brand and audience with thoughtfulness instead of fear. When you stand for principles to the extent you would write your own resignation letter over at the New York Times–you can make decisions that aren’t knee-jerk reactions to the temperature of the moment but are honest reflections of what you and your company are all about, even if, like Bari, it doesn’t fit into a tidy box. 

Click below to an insightful conversation about politics, media, faith, anti-semitism, and corporate values, as Weiss shares her bold blueprint for a return for intellectually rigorous journalism that offers a middle path that’s anything but middle of the road.

Listen to the Interview