60 Minutes contributing correspondent Norah O’Donnell addressed the “challenging” leadership changes at CBS News under Bari Weiss and David Ellison in an interview Tuesday.
O’Donnell, a former CBS Evening News anchor and managing editor, told The Jamie Kern Lima Show that there is a feeling of uncertainty among her colleagues about the future of the network.
“I have worked at CBS now for, oh my goodness, probably almost 14 years, and have had a great career, whether it was covering the White House, anchoring the morning show, anchoring the evening news, working for 60 Minutes‚” O’Donnell, 52, said.
“We have had a lot of leadership changes at CBS. That has been challenging, not only for me, but I know for my colleagues. And I think with so many leadership changes, people are fearful about what the future means.” O’Donnell did not name names.
The Daily Beast has reached out to CBS for comment.
David Ellison, the CEO of parent company Paramount, picked anti-woke opinion writer Bari Weiss to be editor-in-chief of CBS News in October of last year. Since the appointment, there have been resignations, buyouts, and layoffs (with more reportedly planned), not to mention frequent reports about discord in the newsroom regarding certain stories.
Fellow 60 Minutes correspondent Anderson Cooper announced on Monday that he would not be renewing his contract. The CNN anchor’s reported reason was the “rightward direction” that Weiss, 41, and Ellison, 43, were taking CBS.
Cooper’s announcement came after Weiss reportedly held up a story of his that the Trump administration is sensitive about: its selective admissions of South African refugees.
Cooper, according to CNN’s Brian Stelter, will be followed out the door by “at least one other correspondent.”
Minus Cooper, the current roster of 60 Minutes correspondents is comprised of O’Donnell, Lesley Stahl, Bill Whitaker, Jon Wertheim, Cecilia Vega, Sharyn Alfonsi, and Scott Pelley. Alfonsi and Pelley have each criticized Weiss’s decision-making. Weiss was considering firing them both, according to a report last month in The New York Post.
In her interview, O’Donnell also alluded to how there has been a more frequent change of CBS News presidents in recent years.
For the first eight years of O’Donnell’s time at the network, one person, David Rhodes, held that position. But in the seven years since, five people have, and that includes a co-presidency.
Whatever the future may bring, O’Donnell made it clear that currently she is “very fortunate to work for CBS News and work with the very best producers.”
“Sometimes we all take a lot of heat, you know,” she said, “but I happen to work with some really incredible, incredible people who make our job not only interesting, successful, but also we care deeply about each other.”
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