{"id":460325,"date":"2026-06-04T08:47:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T08:47:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/460325\/"},"modified":"2026-06-04T08:47:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T08:47:10","slug":"cbs-and-60-minutes-are-going-through-major-changes-wtf-is-happening","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/460325\/","title":{"rendered":"CBS and ’60 Minutes’ Are Going Through Major Changes. WTF Is Happening?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tWhat began as slight trepidation among CBS<\/a> News staffers when Bari Weiss<\/a> was installed as editor-in-chief of the news organization last October has evolved into outright chaos in the wake of longtime 60 Minutes<\/a> correspondent Scott Pelley\u2019s unceremonious dismissal on Tuesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s the latest crisis to engulf the newsroom months after Weiss overhauled the flagship CBS Evening News program, bumping up morning host Tony Dokoupil to lead anchor. Last week, Weiss fired a slate of trusted correspondents and producers and hired tech journalist and filmmaker Nick Bilton as executive producer of 60 Minutes, the gold-standard television news program that has won more than 150 Emmys since its launch in 1968.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tBilton\u2019s arrival was immediately met with internal pushback from Pelley, who confronted the new boss during a heated all-hands meeting on Monday. An impassioned Pelley accused Weiss of \u201cmurdering\u201d the iconic Sunday evening show and demanding answers from Bilton as to why four senior colleagues were \u201ccruelly fired\u201d on what he described as \u201cBlack Thursday.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe outburst cost Pelley his job, Weiss said at a newsroom meeting on Wednesday. A foundation of trust had been broken, and there was no way back, Weiss said, according to the New York Times<\/a>. \u201cWe did not want that to happen, but that\u2019s the path that he chose.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tYet, Pelley has already fired back, accusing Weiss of lying about the nature of their private conversation, and in a separate statement, claimed leadership had been \u201cinstruct[ing]\u201d him to \u201cinject falsehoods and bias into a politically sensitive story\u201d and to \u201cinclude assertions that are unverified.\u201d (CBS did not immediately respond to Rolling Stone\u2019s request for comment.)\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tWith three of its longtime correspondents fired in the past week, what an overhauled 60 Minutes will look like remains unclear. Here\u2019s what you need to know to get caught up on what\u2019s been happening behind the scenes:\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tWho is Bari Weiss?\u00a0\t<\/p>\n

\n\tLast year, David Ellison, son of tech billionaire Larry Ellison, acquired Paramount in a massive merger and appointed Weiss as editor-in-chief of CBS News. The decision immediately sparked criticism, given Weiss\u2019 background.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n

\n\tBefore her appointment, Weiss served as a New York Times opinion writer before leaving to found The Free Press, an independent media company that \u201cfocus[es] on stories that are ignored or misconstrued in the service of an ideological narrative.\u201d (As part of Weiss joining CBS News, Ellison purchased The Free Press in a $150 million deal.)\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tIn January, Weiss shared her vision for the newsroom, emphasizing that modernizing how CBS News operated would be crucial to surviving the ever-changing media landscape. \u201cOur strategy until now has been [to] cling to the audience that remains on broadcast television,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m here to tell you that if we stick to that strategy, we\u2019re toast.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tWhat was the first sign of trouble at 60 Minutes?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tThe first sign of trouble at 60 Minutes came in December 2025 over Weiss\u2019 decision to temporarily shelve a segment on CECOT, the El Salvador prison where the Trump administration had been sending hundreds of alleged undocumented Venezuelan immigrants as part of ICE\u2019s aggressive deportation policies.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tCorrespondent Sharyn Alfonsi voiced concern internally that she believed Weiss had \u201cspiked\u201d the story at the last minute for political reasons. Weiss disputed the claim, saying the story wasn\u2019t \u201cready\u201d and wanted Alfonsi and her team to advance their reporting further.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tRelated Content<\/p>\n

\n\tAlthough the segment eventually aired in January, it marked the start of ongoing contention between Alfonsi and Weiss.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tWhat prompted the latest blow-up?\u00a0\t<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter a few months of speculation over whether Alfonsi would have her contract renewed, Weiss fired Alfonsi along with correspondent Cecilia Vega, executive producer Tanya Simon, executive editor Draggan Mihailovich, and producers Guy Campanile and Matthew Polevoy last Thursday, effectively clearing out the show\u2019s leadership team.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tIn Simon\u2019s place, Weiss named Nick Bilton as executive editor, calling him \u201cone of the most entrepreneurial journalists of our time.\u201d She added that Bilton shared in the company\u2019s mission to reinvigorate the show, drawing from his \u201cdeep investigative experience and understanding of the technological moment we\u2019re in.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tBilton introduced himself to the team on Monday morning in an all-hands staff meeting, attempting to debunk rumors that he was going to turn the prestige show into \u201c60 one-minute episodes, that it\u2019s going to be like TikTok,\u201d according to the New York Times.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe meeting went off the rails when Pelley, a 50-year veteran journalist, began peppering Bilton with questions and accused Weiss of destroying the show\u2019s sterling reputation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cShe is murdering 60 Minutes,\u201d Pelley said. \u201cShe does not love this place. She was brought in to kill it, and she\u2019s been doing exactly that \u2026 She has no qualifications for her job; you have slender qualifications for this job. The changes that she\u2019s made at the Evening News have been catastrophic, so why should we expect that any of this is going to be any better?\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\tWhy did Scott Pelley accuse Nick Bilton of having \u2018slender\u2018 qualifications?\u00a0\t<\/p>\n

\n\tBilton has scant experience in broadcast television news, although he has worked both as a journalist and producer. He held positions at the New York Times and Vanity Fair as a technology columnist and contributing writer, respectively.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen it comes to the screen, Bilton directed the Netflix documentary Fake Famous in 2021, and is credited as a writer on Euphoria creator Sam Levinson\u2019s widely panned HBO show, The Idol<\/a>, starring The Weeknd and Lily Rose Depp.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tAccording to his website<\/a> and Deadline<\/a>, Bilton is also writing and producing a film and book about \u201cthe mob in 1970s Hawaii\u201d for director Martin Scorsese, with Dwayne Johnson, Emily Blunt and Leonardo DiCaprio attached to star.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tWhat did Scott Pelley say about his departure?\u00a0\t<\/p>\n

\n\tOn Tuesday night, Pelley released a statement<\/a> acknowledging his departure, expressing his gratitude for his time on the program, and pointedly noting that there had been a recent nine-percent jump in viewership. Then Pelley went scorched earth against the new CBS News and Paramount leadership.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe new owner of our network is casting this legend aside, apparently to curry a moment of favor with the Trump administration,\u201d he wrote. \u201cNew management has instructed me to inject falsehoods and bias into a politically sensitive story. I\u2019ve been told to include assertions that are unverified \u2026 Finally, incompetence and unprofessionalism in the new management have wreaked havoc. In a case involving one of my stories, the entire program came within 19 minutes of not getting on the air at all.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tBy Wednesday morning, Pelley issued a fresh statement to dispute comments Weiss had made to the newsroom about what led to Pelley\u2019s dismissal. Weiss painted the closed-door meeting between herself, Pelley, Bilton, and CBS News president Tom Cibrowski as contentious.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cDespite our attempts to engage with Scott Pelley and to find a way back, unfortunately, we weren\u2019t able to do so, and so we had to part ways,\u201d Weiss reportedly said.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut Pelley said he was \u201cstonewalled<\/a>\u201d during the brief 10-minute meeting, and there was no \u201cconstructive dialogue\u201d before he was shown the door. \u201cThese executives cannot gain the trust of the staff with lies,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is antithetical to everything we stand for and reveals contempt for what journalists do.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tWho else has recently left \u201860 Minutes\u2019 program?\u00a0\t<\/p>\n

\n\tAnderson Cooper announced last month that after 20 years as a contributor for the iconic program, he\u2019d be stepping away. (Cooper had juggled both his CNN anchor role and his 60 Minutes position.)\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThere\u2019s very few things that have been around for as long as 60 Minutes has and [have been able to] maintain the quality that it has,\u201d Cooper said in a sign-off. \u201cThings can always evolve and change, and I think that\u2019s awesome, and things should evolve and change, but I hope the core of what 60 Minutes is always remains. I think the independence of 60 Minutes has been critical.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tFormer 60 Minutes executive producer Bill Owens\u00a0resigned on his own accord last April following Paramount\u2019s merger with Skydance. In a speech given Monday at the New York Press Club, Owens echoed Cooper\u2019s remarks and applauded Pelley for taking a stand. \u201cCBS News and 60 Minutes are institutions, not places where partisans and ideologues should be employed,\u201d Owens said, reported Variety<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What began as slight trepidation among CBS News staffers when Bari Weiss was installed as editor-in-chief of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":458589,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[81995,82701,3564,156,111,139,69,437],"class_list":["post-460325","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-60-minutes","tag-bari-weiss","tag-cbs","tag-entertainment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460325","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=460325"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460325\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/458589"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=460325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=460325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=460325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}