{"id":661787,"date":"2026-10-30T15:16:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-30T15:16:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/661787\/"},"modified":"2026-10-30T15:16:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-30T15:16:08","slug":"ousted-60-minutes-correspondent-cecilia-vega-on-overhaul-at-cbs-news-it-hurts-to-watch-cbs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/661787\/","title":{"rendered":"Ousted 60 Minutes correspondent Cecilia Vega on overhaul at CBS News: \u2018It hurts to watch\u2019 | CBS"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cecilia Vega, the 60 Minutes correspondent fired as part of a dramatic overhaul of the CBS<\/a> News show this spring, said it \u201churts\u201d to see what has happened to the storied newsmagazine and other segments of the network, and repeated allegations that she was told to insert \u201cfactually untrue\u201d information into her work.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt pains me. It hurts to watch, from afar. It hurts to talk to my colleagues who are still there. It hurts to see the ratings slump that is happening right now,\u201d Vega said during a Thursday evening talk for students at American University in Washington DC.<\/p>\n

Vega was among several correspondents and producers fired in May as part of a revamp of the show by CBS News\u2019 editor-in-chief, Bari Weiss<\/a>, who hired the tech journalist Nick Bilton as executive producer. Her contract as a 60 Minutes correspondent was not due to expire until March 2027, leading to \u2013 still unresolved \u2013 confusion about why she was targeted for termination.<\/p>\n

\u201cI still don\u2019t know why I was fired,\u201d she said. \u201cI was not given a reason. I was fired without cause. I just find it exceptionally disturbing.\u201d<\/p>\n

CBS News management also parted ways with correspondent Scott Pelley \u201cfor cause\u201d, after he clashed with Bilton<\/a>, and declined to renew correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi\u2019s<\/a> contract. The show\u2019s executive producer Tanya Simon was also fired, along with several other top producers.<\/p>\n

Weiss opted to upend the show despite industry-leading ratings. The 58th season of the show averaged 9.1 million viewers, up 9% compared with the previous season. This season has seen softer ratings \u2013 the show\u2019s most recent episode drew just 5.64 million viewers, the smallest audience this century for the sixth episode of a 60 Minutes season. Weiss said during an industry conference<\/a> on Wednesday that she was not \u201cfocused\u201d on the show\u2019s ratings and was instead focused on building the network.<\/p>\n

\u201cI still don\u2019t know why the overhaul, and it\u2019s hard to watch,\u201d Vega said. \u201cIt\u2019s really hard to watch what\u2019s happened.\u201d As for the broader corporate strategy for the network, which is now owned by David Ellison\u2019s Skydance, she said: \u201cI don\u2019t know what the endgame is. I think it\u2019s a real mystery.\u201d<\/p>\n

During her talk, Vega repeated her contention<\/a> that newsroom managers attempted to insert political bias into her stories for the show, efforts she resisted.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt like people had to know what was happening in there, that the news that they are seeing, in my experience, had become compromised,\u201d she said on Thursday. \u201cSome of the stories I did, and some of the things that I was asked to do. I held the line, and Scott held the line, and Sharyn held the line, and I think people are still holding the line over there. But what they are having to go through, or what we had to go through, should never happen in a newsroom.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vega said she was \u201ctold to put information that is just factually untrue in a piece of journalism\u201d, though she said she \u201ccan\u2019t prescribe a motive\u201d as to why she was told to do so.<\/p>\n

CBS News has denied Vega\u2019s claims of political bias, which she expressed<\/a> during an appearance at the National Association of Hispanic Journalists Conference & Expo this summer.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe respect Ms Vega and her contributions, but her claims are not based in reality,\u201d a network spokesperson said in late May.<\/p>\n

Vega, who was wearing a shirt honoring the late labor leader Dolores Huerta, was interviewed by Antoine Sanfuentes, a former NBC News and CNN executive who serves as an adjunct professor at the university.<\/p>\n

Vega was hired as a 60 Minutes correspondent in early 2023, after serving as chief White House correspondent and an anchor at ABC News. She was brought on by the show\u2019s then-executive producer, Bill Owens, who resigned from CBS News in protest <\/a>in April 2025. She was the show\u2019s first Latina correspondent.<\/p>\n

Pelley has continued to speak publicly about his time at 60 Minutes, asserting that political pressure was applied to make stories more palatable to the Trump administration.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my experience, and having talked to my colleagues as well, there was an imperative to move our coverage in the direction of the president. To put a thumb on the scale, if you will, in terms of the president\u2019s viewpoint,\u201d he said during a panel discussion<\/a> on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had never seen anything like this. This was corporate influence coming into the news division saying, \u2018We want you to report stories with this particular bent, in terms of politics.\u2019 It was anathema to all of us who had worked at 60 Minutes for so many years, and we fought the battle against it. We pushed back against it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like Pelley, Vega expressed concerns about what might happen to the journalists who work at CBS News and CNN now that they are owned by the same company \u2013 and could merge. \u201cI\u2019m fearful for job security. I\u2019m fearful for editorial independence. I hope folks can hold the line, but I don\u2019t have a crystal ball and I\u2019m not going to predict what happens. It makes me nervous for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking to a room of students, the 49-year-old Vega said she \u201chas no idea\u201d if she will join another legacy media outlet \u2013 or do something independently.<\/p>\n

Acknowledging uncertainty in the media industry, she told the students: \u201cI don\u2019t know what it\u2019s going to look like when you\u2019re going to get a job. I don\u2019t even know what it\u2019s going to look like when I get a job. Hopefully.\u201d<\/p>\n