All posts tagged: CBS News

Scott Pelley Fired From CBS News’ 60 Minutes After Heated Meeting

Scott Pelley Fired From CBS News’ 60 Minutes After Heated Meeting

Published by Daniella Wilson

In a stunning development, veteran CBS News 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley has been fired by the network after clashing with the show’s new executive producer, Nick Bilton, in a fiery meeting with the show’s staff Monday. Bilton informed Pelley of his termination Tuesday evening, writing in a note that his employment was “terminated for cause effective immediately.” Pelley has been at CBS News for decades, and previously served as the anchor of the CBS Evening News. In the meeting on June 1 with new 60 Minutes executive producer Nick Bilton, Pelley said that CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss is “murdering 60 Minutes. She does not love this place; she was brought in to kill it and is doing exactly that.” He also said that Bilton, a veteran technology journalist who previously worked at The New York Times and Vanity Fair, had “slender” qualifications for what is arguably the most important EP job in television news. “You should hear this from me first. We have parted ways with Scott Pelley,” Bilton wrote in a note to …

Fired 60 Minutes Correspondent Cecilia Vega Calls Out Network

Fired 60 Minutes Correspondent Cecilia Vega Calls Out Network

Published by Daniella Wilson

Cecilia Vega, the veteran TV news correspondent who was fired from 60 Minutes on Thursday, said in a fiery statement, “I very much fear what comes next” for the long-running newsmagazine, which is undergoing a major overhaul under CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss. Weiss terminated Vega and fellow 60 correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi, as well as executive producer Tanya Simon. She hired the veteran journalist Nick Bilton to become the show’s new EP. In her statement, Vega said that “in recent months, my producing teams and I have experienced efforts to insert political bias into our stories,” though she did not go into detail about what that entailed. “Reporting teams have held back on submitting story pitches about important news topics out of fear of the internal repercussions “Let’s call this what it is: censorship, both imposed and self-driven,” she continued. “It is dangerous for the show and dangerous for democracy.” Vega joined 60 Minutes three years ago from ABC News, a major move for the network news veteran. “I held the line and refused to incorporate suggestions that …

Christopher Nolan Interview on How Hard ‘The Odyssey’ Was to Make

Christopher Nolan Interview on How Hard ‘The Odyssey’ Was to Make

Published by Daniella Wilson

Director Christopher Nolan didn’t want to hold anything back when adapting Homer’s The Odyssey for the big screen. Talking to CBS News‘ Scott Pelley for a 60 Minutes interview that aired Sunday night, Nolan was asked what he believes the “essential elements” of his films are “I always try to have a point of view on the story that’s from inside the film,” he said. “So I’m not looking at the characters from 30,000 feet; I’m trying to be in the race, in the maze with them. Because I want to try and give the audience a sense of what a place would smell like, what it would feel like. But you’re also trying to make the most involving, the most extreme version of a story possible.” He told Pelley that he always approaches each film as if it were his last. “I feel a real responsibility to try and get as much on screen for the audience as possible to give the audience the fullest flavor, the fullest set of images and events that we …

Anderson Cooper Bids Farewell to 60 Minutes With Plea for Independence

Anderson Cooper Bids Farewell to 60 Minutes With Plea for Independence

Published by Daniella Wilson

Anderson Cooper bid farewell to CBS News‘ 60 Minutes on Sunday night after 20 years on the newsmagazine by praising the show’s “independence” and “trust it has with viewers.” “I hope 60 Minutes remains 60 Minutes,” he said in an interview on 60 Minutes Overtime. “There’s very few things that have been around for as long as 60 Minutes has and maintain the quality that it has, and things can always evolve and change, and I think that’s awesome, and things should evolve and change, but I hope the core of what 60 Minutes is always remains.” 60 Minutes has been making headlines recently under its new ownership of David Ellison and Ellison’s hiring of CBS News editor in chief Bari Weiss. In December, Weiss pulled a segment on the “brutal and torturous conditions” at the El Salvador prison where the Trump Administration sent deportees. An official statement said the story “needed additional reporting.” 60 Minutes has also faced criticism for reportedly sidelining legendary correspondent Lesley Stahl and drafting in Major Garrett to interview Benjamin …

ABC Wins Network News Race for Q1 2026, CBS Stuck in Third

ABC Wins Network News Race for Q1 2026, CBS Stuck in Third

Published by Daniella Wilson

Depending on the point of comparison, Tony Dokoupil’s first three months as anchor of the CBS Evening News resulted in either improving or declining ratings. The overall standings of the network news race, however, remained unchanged. Dokoupil and CBS are certainly under the most scrutiny, as he was tapped by CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss to lead the nightly newscast as her first big hire, with the aim of bringing the Evening News closer to its rivals. In the first quarter through March 20 (which includes the final week for Dokoupil’s predecessors in the anchor chair, John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois), the CBS Evening News is averaging 4.24 million viewers and 532,000 people in the key news demographic of adults 25-54, based on Nielsen same-day ratings. That’s an improvement over the fourth quarter of 2025, when the newscast averaged 4.03 million viewers and 502,000 adults 25-54. It’s down, however, from the first quarter a year ago (4.59 million viewers, 657,000 adults 18-49). ABC’s World News Tonight is leading, as usual, with 8.61 million viewers and …

‘CBS Mornings’ Executive Producer Shawna Thomas to Depart Network

‘CBS Mornings’ Executive Producer Shawna Thomas to Depart Network

Published by Daniella Wilson

Shawna Thomas, executive producer of CBS Mornings, is leaving the program as the new owners of Paramount are expected to reshape the network. Thomas has headed the morning show for the past five years and will step down at the end of March. Senior broadcast producer Jon Tower will run CBS Mornings on an interim basis once Thomas departs.  The news comes a day after anchor Gayle King renewed her deal to remain as co-host of CBS Mornings, after speculation about her future at the network under the new leadership of editor-in-chief Bari Weiss and president Tom Cibrowski. The show had been co-anchored by Nate Burleson, who was also confirmed to stay on with the show Wednesday, and Tony Dokoupil, who left the program to move to CBS Evening News.  In a memo to staff, Thomas did not cite an exact reason for departing the network, but said that it was a decision she had been thinking about for some time.  “I’ve had the privilege of helping to make 10 (now 12!) hours of television …

CBS News Producer Exits Citing Pressure to Aim Political Reporting

CBS News Producer Exits Citing Pressure to Aim Political Reporting

Published by Daniella Wilson

Mary Walsh, a veteran CBS News producer of over four decades, is exiting the company, claiming in an exit memo to staffers that instructions to “aim our reporting at a particular part of the political spectrum” are partly why she’s departing. “We’ve been reading a lot of goodbyes lately and here I am headed out the door. It’s too soon, even after 46 years,” Mary Walsh wrote in a memo sent Friday, per The Guardian. “But maybe it’s for the best. We’ve been told to aim our reporting at a particular part of the political spectrum. Honestly, I don’t know how to do that.” The Guardian further reported that CBS Evening News executive editor Kim Harvey sent a separate message to staff in response to Walsh’s memo. “We wish Mary Walsh well and thank her for many years of service,” Harvey wrote, according to the outlet. “Mary wrote in her farewell note, ‘We’ve been told to aim our reporting at a particular part of the political spectrum.’ That is simply not true. Here at the …

Anderson Cooper Bids Farewell to 60 Minutes With Plea for Independence

Anderson Cooper Is Leaving ‘60 Minutes’

Published by Daniella Wilson

Anderson Cooper is ending his time at 60 Minutes. The CNN anchor, who has been a correspondent at the CBS newsmagazine for nearly two decades, opted not to renew his contract with 60 Minutes, sources say. Cooper’s final segment for the show, an interview with documentary filmmaker Ken Burns, aired Sunday. Cooper remains with CNN, where he anchors the nightly Anderson Cooper 360 and a weekly newsmagazine, The Whole Story. He also hosts a podcast and streaming show called All There Is. His work for 60 Minutes came as part of an agreement between CNN, his full-time employer, and CBS. The media newsletter Breaker first reported Cooper’s departure. “Being a correspondent at 60 Minutes has been one of the great honors of my career,” Cooper said in a statement. “I got to tell amazing stories, and work with some of the best producers, editors, and camera crews in the business. For nearly twenty years, I’ve been able to balance my jobs at CNN and CBS, but I have little kids now and I want to …

Bari Weiss Takes Hiatus From Podcast as Turmoil Mounts at CBS News

Bari Weiss Takes Hiatus From Podcast as Turmoil Mounts at CBS News

Published by Daniella Wilson

As Bari Weiss’s bumpy tenure as the top editorial honcho at CBS News nears the four-month mark, the millennial opinion writer turned broadcast exec announced that she is taking a hiatus from the podcast she’s hosted for four years. On Friday, Weiss made the announcement of her hiatus from her podcast Honestly With Bari Weiss in a post on The Free Press, the news and opinion website that she founded two years ago and was purchased by Paramount Skydance for $150 million. That deal, brokered by CEO David Ellison, also included the editor-in-chief of CBS News gig for Weiss, putting her at the helm of a major broadcast newsroom after spending much of her career as an opinion writer and editor at The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, and running The Free Press. “If I sound mushy right now, it’s because I love making this show, and I’m not done making it. But as you may have heard, if you have an internet connection, I’ve also taken on a new role, and …

Shelved ’60 Minutes’ Segment on El Salvador Prison to Finally Air

Shelved ’60 Minutes’ Segment on El Salvador Prison to Finally Air

Published by Daniella Wilson

The 60 Minutes segment that was pulled last month by CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss in a controversial move is now ready to finally air. The “Inside CECOT” segment is slated to air Sunday night, according to the program’s listings. CNN‘s Brian Stelter was first to report the news. “Last year, the Trump administration deported hundreds of Venezuelans to El Salvador, a country most had no ties to, claiming they were terrorists. This unusual move sparked an ongoing legal battle, and 10 months later, the U.S. government still has not released the names of all those deported and placed in CECOT, one of El Salvador’s harshest prisons. Correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi speaks with some of the now released deportees, who describe the brutal and torturous conditions they endured inside CECOT,” the segment’s description reads. CBS News told The Hollywood Reporter in a statement: “CBS News leadership has always been committed to airing the 60 Minutes CECOT piece as soon as it was ready. Tonight, viewers get to see it, along with other important stories, all of which speak to CBS News’ independence and the power …