Norah O’Donnell, the longtime CBS News anchor and a graduate of MacArthur High School on the North Side, is taking on a bigger role on the network’s marquee show, “60 Minutes.”
The shift is part of another major shakeup as the storied show enters its 59th season.
The network hired Ross Douthat, a conservative opinion columnist at the New York Times, and a spate of new contributors, it announced this week.
O’Donnell was born in Washington, D.C., and moved to San Antonio when she was 3. Her father, Dr. Francis O’Donnell, was an Army colonel who taught at Brooke Army Medical Center.
She attended Serna Elementary, Garner Middle School and MacArthur High School in the North East Independent School District. O’Donnell ran track for the Brahmas and was head cheerleader before graduating in 1991.
She went on to attend Georgetown University and started her career a political journalist.
Nick Bilton, the show’s executive producer, called O’Donnell a “powerhouse” in his announcement of her new role.
The new hirings at “60 minutes” come two months after a shakeup at the program, led by the network’s new editor-in-chief, Bari Weiss.
Weiss replaced an executive producer with 30-plus years of experience with Bilton, who has little substantive broadcast news experience. She fired two correspondents, which led to a public clash with San Antonio-born correspondent Scott Pelley, who accused Weiss of “murdering” the show.
Pelley was fired a few days later.
Turmoil had raged at “60 Minutes” for more than a year before the May shakeup. Much of it came after President Donald Trump sued the show over its editing of a 2024 interview with then-Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris.
That became part of a broader sweep of changes at CBS News after Weiss was named to the new role of editor-in-chief by parent company Paramount late last year.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.