CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss replaced Tanya Simon as executive producer of 60 Minutes and named journalist, author, and filmmaker Nick Bilton as the program's new executive producer for its 59th season. From Reuters:
The appointment of Bilton, 49, is part of a shakeup at the 57-year-old program and follows other unconventional hires including of podcasters and opinion writers in a new strategy to draw younger audiences. He replaces Tanya Simon, who became the program's first female executive producer just last year.
Bilton's resume includes stints as a technology columnist for the New York Times and correspondent for Vanity Fair as well as several nonfiction books and documentary films.
"Nick embodies the energy and ambition that animated the founders of the show. We cannot imagine a better fit," CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss and CBS News President Tom Cibrowski said in a note to staff released by CBS.
CBS News President Tom Cibrowski joined Weiss in announcing the move, putting one of television's most famous news programs under new leadership.
The shakeup goes beyond one office. 60 Minutes correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi is out after CBS News declined to renew her contract following a clash with Weiss over an El Salvador prison segment tied to the Trump administration's deportation policy.
It's awfully darn funny to read about Alfonsi's objectivity being defended by Deadline.
A few weeks back Alfonsi hired hard-hitting litigator Bryan Freedman. With Freedman’s representation in pocket, events already are in motion that indicate a legal tussle is in the making — perhaps behind closed doors, perhaps not.
With Alfonsi’s for hire contract not renewed, the battleground will likely shift to the way she was treated at CBS News under Weiss’ less than a year old regime. Specifically, the manner in which Alfonsi’s work and objectivity was disparaged with the very public pulling of her CECOT piece. Additionally, the even more public hanging out to dry of Alfonsi late last year only accentuates any claims of ill treatment, toxic workplace or fail of leadership against CBS News if the journalist chooses to go that route.
Having joked (not joked) of late at events of her worry about having a job, Alfonsi clearly figured out which way the wind was blowing and isn’t fearful of staking out her ground — even more so this week.
“Fearless, independent reporting has always been the defining standard at 60 Minutes,” Alfonsi said Wednesday after not having her 60 Minutes contract renewed. A lack of renewal she called “a deliberate choice to penalize a journalist for refusing to sanitize factually accurate reporting, and it sends a chilling message to the entire newsroom.”
Correspondent Cecilia Vega is also leaving, while Anderson Cooper has already announced his departure. Senior executive producer Draggan Mihailovich also left during the reshuffling.
Weiss can't be confused as a MAGA warrior, having built her reputation as a writer, editor, and media critic who has angered people on multiple sides. Still, she now faces an entrenched 60 Minutes culture that has defended its habits for years and treated outside pressure as an insult rather than a warning.
It's hard not to read between the lines, but it's fairly obvious Weiss is irritating the right people, like those at the Associated Press.
Also let go, according to a person familiar with the situation who spoke on anonymity: correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi, whose segment about Trump administration deportees in a Salvadoran prison was abruptly pulled by Weiss, running a month later; and Cecilia Vega.
Sweeping actions like those announced Thursday had been widely expected from Weiss, founder of the Free Press website. Since she was hired in October by CBS parent company Paramount Global’s new management, she has fast become a headline-maker and polarizing figure in journalism.
In his own lengthy memo to staff, Bilton, who comes to his new post without traditional broadcast experience, said “60 Minutes” was “without exaggeration, the most important television journalism brand this country has ever produced.”
The old model still carries prestige, but prestige can become cover. Viewers have watched legacy newsrooms mishandle major stories and then act shocked (SHOCKED!) when Americans tune out.
60 Minutes still draws a large audience, but reputation alone can't carry a program forever. Viewers long ago knew the story was already arranged before the cameras rolled, meaning the stopwatch lost its authority.
Bilton's arrival sharpens the fight; he comes from outside traditional broadcast news, which means veterans inside the building will notice every unfamiliar move. He's written about technology, Silicon Valley, power, and online culture, and he's worked in documentary storytelling.
It's clear that Weiss and Cibrowski want someone who can stretch the news program without treating the brand like museum property.
The resistance won't stand for this; Tanya Simon, daughter of the late 60 Minutes correspondent Bob Simon, had deep roots inside the program. Alfonsi accused CBS News leadership of penalizing her over editorial disputes and warned about corporate pressure. Old alliances and newsroom resentment won't vanish because a memo announced new leadership.
Ownership support will decide whether Weiss can finish the job. Paramount Skydance brought her into CBS News to change a newsroom that had lost too many viewers and too much benefit of the doubt. From Reuters:
David Ellison — the son of longtime Trump supporter Larry Ellison — acquired Paramount in August and helped secure regulatory approval for the deal that created Paramount Skydance, with the promise that CBS would reflect the “varied ideological perspectives” of American viewers.
Before the merger, Paramount agreed in July 2025 to settle Trump’s lawsuit over a “60 Minutes” interview by paying about $16 million, mostly for his future presidential library.
Weiss' plan to infuse a "streaming mentality" into the storied news magazine has drawn mixed reviews. It included restructuring the newsroom and starting news coverage on digital platforms and ending on television.
If executives back her only until the first round of bad headlines, the old guard will wait her out. If they hold firm, she may rebuild the program's instincts, hires, and editorial habits.
America doesn't need 60 Minutes to become conservative; it needs the show to chase hard facts, pressure powerful figures from every faction, and resist the lazy comfort of pleasing its own newsroom culture.
You know, like journalists are supposed to do.
Weiss made the first hard move; her next hires will reveal whether CBS News wants real reform or a temporary PR reset.
For now, she chose the fight, and the fight is long overdue.
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