Veteran journalists braced for change when David Ellison took control of CBS and installed conservative Bari Weiss as editor in chief of the news division, but six former staffers revealed they should have been prepared for a demolition.
In eight months under Weiss’s leadership, “60 Minutes,” the top-rated news program in the country, drawing 9.1 million weekly viewers, has lost seven of its 10 correspondents, seen its veteran executive producer fired without explanation, and watched its editorial independence eroded by what multiple journalists describe as direct political interference in their reporting, reported Variety.
“We have to acknowledge that ‘60 Minutes’ needed a bit of a facelift, and there were potentially positive ways to improve the program, but it’s the way they have gone about it,” said one former “60 Minutes” staffer. “You don’t give a facelift with a f—ing machete.”
The breaking point came May 28, a day staffers now call “Black Thursday,” when Weiss fired correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega, executive producer Tanya Simon and executive editor Draggan Mihailovich in a single sweep. Days later, Scott Pelley, the de facto face of CBS News for nearly four decades, was fired after publicly questioning Weiss’s leadership at an all-hands staff meeting.
The firings followed months of alleged editorial meddling. Alfonsi accused Weiss of spiking a fully vetted report on Venezuelan migrants held in an El Salvadoran prison — pulling it hours before airtime because the Trump administration declined to comment.
“If the administration’s refusal to participate becomes a valid reason to spike a story,” Alfonsi wrote to colleagues, “we have effectively handed them a kill switch for any reporting they find inconvenient.” Vega made similar allegations on her way out, and Pelley told the New York Times that Weiss demanded he describe a woman shot dead by ICE agents as “driving toward the officer” — a claim contradicted by video evidence.
CBS News disputes the characterizations, calling Weiss’s interventions routine editorial feedback with no political motivation.
Critics point to a broader pattern. A CBS Evening News segment concluded with the words “Marco Rubio, we salute you.” Weiss allowed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to choose his own interviewer for a “60 Minutes” sit-down, earning personal praise from a former Israeli ambassador. A “60 Minutes” report on ICE enforcement in Minneapolis was allegedly reworked to make protesters appear more violent.
The collapse is striking as under outgoing executive producer Tanya Simon, “60 Minutes” just completed its 52nd consecutive season as the top-rated news program in America, with digital engagement up dramatically and viewership growing.
The three remaining correspondents — Lesley Stahl, Bill Whitaker and Jon Wertheim — announced last week they would stay, but warned they would leave if the show’s editorial independence could not be preserved.
“They’ve been shameless in their directions and shameless in their actions,” said longtime “60 Minutes” correspondent Steve Kroft, who retired in 2019. “I hope it’s going to come to an end, but I don’t have a great deal of confidence in Bari Weiss to do what she says that she’s going to do. She hasn’t done it so far. I think it’s going to be more of the same, and it’ll be interesting to see how much Lesley, Bill and Jon will put up with.”
Kroft doesn’t expect Weiss, who reportedly holes up behind a security team in her office in an off-limits wing, to stick around much longer herself.
“I have a feeling that Bari will not be overseeing ‘60 Minutes’ for very much longer,” Kroft said. “I think once the deal gets done with Warner Bros., people will demand that she be let go or move into another position. Everything she’s touched has turned to s—. Everything she’s touched has gone colossally wrong, and I don’t think she’s showed any talent for this position. She’s only fulfilling other people’s agendas.”
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