The ongoing restructuring at CBS News under editor-in-chief, Bari Weiss, has reportedly caused widespread anxiety among remaining staff at 60 Minutes ahead of the flagship program’s fall season.
A wave of high-profile departures and direct editorial interventions by senior leadership have left staff questioning whether the historic news magazine can maintain its standards of investigative reporting, according to reports from Status and The Daily Beast.
The division between network leadership and the program came to a head in May during what employees labeled “Black Thursday,” when Weiss dismissed executive producer Tanya Simon as well as correspondents Cecilia Vega and Sharyn Alfonsi in a single day.
Longtime correspondent Scott Pelley was also terminated in June following a meeting in which he reportedly clashed with Nick Bilton — the former tech journalist selected by Weiss to run 60 Minutes — over the editorial direction of the broadcast.
The production team has also seen a wave of departures. Executive editor Draggan Mihailovich, longtime producers Michael Gavshon and Henry Schuster, and producer Nichole Marks have all left the show recently.
The staff exits follow the high-profile departure of Anderson Cooper, who left 60 Minutes after growing disillusioned with what sources described as a shift toward more Trump administration-friendly coverage at CBS News.
The management shakeup has also started affecting cable rival CNN ahead of a merger between CBS’s parent company, Paramount, and CNN’s parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery.
Last weekend, CNN chief legal affairs correspondent Paula Reid declined to renew her contract, choosing instead to join rival network MS NOW due to concerns over the restructuring under Weiss, according to Status.
Sources also told The New York Times that Cooper did not want to work with Weiss if she is given authority over CNN after the merger.
Current CBS News employees told Status that the sudden loss of experienced staff had created deep concerns ahead of the new season. Although 60 Minutes will meet its broadcast schedule and air on time, some staffers believe the network will be forced to rely on filler content to occupy airtime.
For decades, 60 Minutes operated with strict editorial independence from the rest of the CBS News division. However, sources also told Status that Weiss — a journalist with no prior broadcast TV experience before being appointed by the network's owner, David Ellison — was exerting unprecedented control over individual stories.
Staff members expressed frustration with Weiss's frequent interventions, which have included bypassing the show’s established correspondents to assign high-profile interviews to other CBS News journalists.
Weiss also pulled a segment on El Salvador's CECOT prison shortly before its scheduled air date. The segment focused on Venezuelan migrants deported to the facility by the Trump administration and aired nearly one month later.
The Independent has contacted CBS News for comment.
