CBS News editor in chief Bari Weiss shook up the TV-news industry’s most-watched and best-regarded property Thursday, ousting the program’s two most senior executive producers, Tanya Simon and Draggan Mihailoivich, along with correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega, according to two people familiar with the matter.
CBS News named Nick Bilton, a former technology columnist at The New York Times and a contributor at Vanity Fair as the new executive producer of the program, adding a degree of uncertainty to the next steps of a series that generated $206.3 million in advertising in 2024, according to Guideline, a tracker of ad spending. It remained unclear on Thursday whether others among the show’s production and correspondent staff might be cut in future days.
“Nick is one of the most entrepreneurial journalists of our time and the perfect leader for one of the most entrepreneurial news brands of all time,” said Weiss, in a statement. “We have huge ambition for ‘60 Minutes‘ to reach new heights through deep, revelatory journalism that breaks news, exposes wrongdoing, widens public understanding and forces accountability from every institution and every center of power. Nick shares this mission and will bring his deep investigative experience and understanding of the technological moment we’re in to ’60 Minutes’ so that its important journalism comes to life for all audiences.”
Like Weiss, Bilton lacks a long tenure in TV production, and his ascent to the role — he is just the fifth leader of “60 Minutes” in a nearly 60-sesaon history –will no doubt draw new scrutiny to the program when its next cycle debuts in the fall.
In a memo to staffers issued Thursday, Simon said “leadership has decided it is time for a new chapter” and called the show “more than just a broadcast: it is an institution built on independence, grit, and rigorous search for the truth. That is work we did together — and with ratings up 9% over last year no less. You should all be proud.”
The show has been operating under intense scrutiny for more than a year. Previous management at Paramount, the parent company of CBS, turned the program into a bargaining chip with the Trump administration, which leveraged a $16 million settlement to President Donald Trump to end what has been viewed in many legal circles as a flimsy lawsuit tied to a pre-Election Day interview between Bill Whitaker, a “60 Minutes” correspondent, and former U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris. Paramount made the deal as it sought to complete its sale to Skydance, the network’s current owner.
As a result, two senior CBS News executives — Bill Owens, the former executive producer of “60 Minutes,” and Wendy McMahon, the former CEO of CBS News, local stations and syndication — suggested in remarks that they could no longer push back against corporate mandates they felt would weaken the newsroom. Both left CBS News last year.
Despite the turmoil, there has been a sense within CBS News that “60 Minutes” needed to be made more a part of the overall news division and turbocharged for an era in which people get their news in shorter segments and via social and digital media. In 2027, the show is slated to leave its current offices in New York and be housed alongside the rest of CBS News. There has also been some hand-wringing over whether the program has grown too genteel and whether it needs more of what former correspondent Mike Wallace once provided: a little investigative moxie and confrontation.
The question is whether Weiss and Bilton call pull it all off. A radical overhaul of “60 Minutes” could serve to alienate viewers who have come to expect three longform stories and a mix of investigations, profiles and intriguing features. The program in one instance might hold a politician under tight scrutiny in an uncomfortable moment and might take viewers to a remote corner of the world in another.
“Hiring Nick represents a deliberate vision for ’60 Minutes’ to go beyond an hour on Sunday evenings to become a 360-degree product that reaches audiences wherever they consume information,” added Tom Cibrowski, president of CBS News, in a statement. “Our ambition is to do hard-hitting journalism that respects our existing audience, brings in new audiences and enables viewers to proactively devote their attention to our work across every platform and medium.”
Even so, dispatching Simon and Mihailoivich launches a stark new era. Both producers had spent decades with the show, and Simon is the daughter of a legendary CBS News and “60 Minutes” correspondent, Bob Simon. There are clear signs of cutting ties with the past.
People familiar with the newsmagazine say a chasm remains between CBS News management and the “60” staff. Weiss has been open about the correspondents not being willing to embrace her and producers are wary of an executive who takes pride in making quick decisions that don’t always take into account possible ripple effects.
In late 2025, Weiss generated controversy by inserting herself late in the process around a story about migrants being shipped by the U.S. to harsh imprisonment in El Salvador. Weiss ordered the work held after it had already been promoted in public circles, calling for Alfonsi, the correspondent who reported the segment, to get comment from Trump officials after she had already made efforts to do so. The move drew new inquiry because it had the appearance of trying to placate the Trump administration over a story officials might not find favorable. The segment appeared during a January, 2026, telecast and Weiss acknowledged she drew unwanted attention because she was unfamiliar with some of the news outlet’s processes.
While some CBS News staffers welcome some new ideas at the show, there is also skepticism — and a fear — that Weiss’ team lacks the crucial skill of keeping TV audiences rooted to the screen. Under Weiss aegis, both “CBS Mornings” and an overhauled “CBS Evening News” have seen viewership erode to difficult-to-sustain levels.
“If they mess with the format and pacing on Sundays, then they’re jeopardizing the whole brand,” says one CBS News staffer.
More to come…
