Bari Weiss’ Free Press Admits Its Error After Mischaracterizing Abdul El-Sayed’s Speech

Bari Weiss’ media outlet has acknowledged that it misstated how Abdul El-Sayed delivered his election-night victory speech, issuing a correction and later removing a video about the episode. The mistake put fresh attention on the publication Weiss founded and still runs alongside her role at CBS News. The Free Press had claimed in a post on X that El-Sayed, a Democrat elected to the Senate from Michigan, gave his victory speech in Arabic. A video from reporter and host Maya Sulkin repeated the claim, describing the address as being delivered in Arabic and questioning why Democrats did not find that unusual. According to the report, El-Sayed’s speech was largely in English. He used a handful of Arabic expressions, including “inshallah,” “Alhamdulillah” and “habibi,” as well as pronouncing his full name. The outlet’s initial description therefore overstated how much of the speech was in Arabic. Two days after the original post, The Free Press published a correction saying the claim was inaccurate and that El-Sayed had spoken mostly in English. The outlet said it regretted the error. It then took a further step on Sunday, removing the opinion video and conceding that both its factual accuracy and its tone had fallen short of its standards. The publication’s statement did not name El-Sayed, but said the video concerned the use of foreign languages in election-night speeches. The episode has drawn scrutiny because Weiss continues to oversee The Free Press while also serving as CBS News editor-in-chief. The report says the outlet was acquired by Paramount chief executive David Ellison last year, with Weiss subsequently taking the CBS role. The correction addressed the specific claim about the speech; the outlet also said its editorial process should support healthy public discussion. The incident leaves a pointed question for Weiss’ dual leadership: how her publications handle errors when coverage turns a few words into a broader political argument.