NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� Saying it was time for a new approach and a new chapter, has replaced the executive producer of 鈥�60 Minutes,鈥� naming outsider Nick Bilton, a longtime technology journalist and documentarian, as the show’s new leader.
Executive producer Tanya Simon will be leaving about a year after being named to the job following 30 years at the venerable Sunday evening program. The moves cap a period of turmoil for the venerable newsmagazine that premiered in 1968 and is known for its ticking stopwatch.
In a memo to staff Thursday, Weiss and CBS News President Tom Cibrowski said their goal was 鈥渂uilding a show that thrives in the 21st century.鈥�
鈥淭hat requires a new approach,鈥� Weiss and Cibrowski wrote, defining it as “expanding 鈥�60 Minutes鈥� beyond a one-hour television broadcast, deepening its role across CBS News, and holding everything we produce to the ambition, fairness, and fearlessness that have defined 鈥�60 Minutes鈥� at its best.鈥�
Bilton, they said, 鈥渆mbodies the energy and ambition that animated the founders of the show. We cannot imagine a better fit.鈥� Bilton is also a former New York Times technology columnist.
Others let go as well
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鈥檚 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 鈥�60 Minutes鈥� was 鈥渨ithout exaggeration, the most important television journalism brand this country has ever produced.鈥�
鈥淭he fact that this show has remained a fixed point in a culture is part of why this show still matters as much as it does,鈥� he wrote. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 want to lose that. But the world we are reporting on, and the world we are reporting to, where people consume their news, has moved. And if we don鈥檛 move with it, in the ways that matter, we won鈥檛 be here for the next sixty years. I want to do everything humanly possible to ensure that we are.鈥�
A bumpy period for 鈥�60 Minutes鈥�
In July of last year, to the dismay of many at the show, Paramount out-of-court after he sued 鈥�60 Minutes鈥� for how it had handled an interview with Kamala Harris, his 2024 election opponent.
In December, the show, at Weiss’ direction, showing Alfonsi’s report about the deportees, saying greater effort was needed to secure an interview with administration officials. Alfonsi complained privately that the decision was political. The story with additional administration comments, but no on-camera interviews with officials.
The episode, and others, has had critics watching to see if Weiss is moving the network in a Trump-friendly direction. Since her appointment, Trump administration officials have been more visible on CBS News, in interviews that she sometimes helped arrange. The was interviewed by Norah O鈥橠onnell on 鈥�60 Minutes鈥� on Nov. 2.
In February, Anderson Cooper exited the show, saying he wanted to spend more time with his family, but raising questions about whether it had anything to do with Weiss’s leadership. Cooper had contributed stories to 鈥�60 Minutes鈥� as part of a job-sharing arrangement with CNN, where his prime-time 鈥淎nderson Cooper 360鈥� has aired since 2003.
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