New "60 Minutes" head plans to expand show's reach to more days, platforms
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CBS News on Thursday announced Nick Bilton, a British-American journalist, author and filmmaker, as executive producer of its flagship news magazine program "60 Minutes."
Why it matters: His hiring comes at a trying time for the program, as some staffers push back against changes at the show and the broader network by CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss.
Zoom in: Bilton, a CBS outsider, was formerly a tech columnist for the New York Times and a special correspondent for Vanity Fair.
- Bilton has spent the last few years working on documentaries in Los Angeles. He plans to bring those investigative journalism chops to "60 Minutes," he tells Axios in an interview. He will relocate to New York for the new role.
- "You have these platforms, where there are blogs and podcasts and so on, that don't necessarily do original reporting. Some of them do, but a lot of them don't. They don't ask tough questions in interviews," he says.
- Bilton said society today needs that rigorous reporting. "That is to me what '60 Minutes' represents and it's what the founding of the show is about, and it's what I really want to focus on," he says.
Between the lines: Bilton says he plans to bring in "new ways of telling stories" that can "bring the show into the 21st century in a new and exciting way."
- "60 Minutes," he notes, is only "one hour a night, one day a week." There's "so much untapped potential in reaching people across so many different platforms," he adds.
- "What's really exciting to me is I get to take over this institution that has so much untapped potential, where we can be telling stories — not just on Sunday night at 7 o'clock — but on Monday and Tuesday, on Wednesday and Thursday, and so on, and in so many different formats."
- In a statement, Weiss called Bilton "one of the most entrepreneurial journalists of our time and the perfect leader for one of the most entrepreneurial news brands of all time."
State of play: Bilton's hiring is part of a broader staff shakeup at "60 Minutes."
- The show parted ways with longtime producer turned interim executive producer Tanya Simon this week, Axios confirmed.
- Simon replaced the show's longtime executive producer Bill Owens, after he resigned from the show in April 2025.
- Longtime correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi, who railed against Weiss in her exit memo, was also let go — as was Emmy-winning correspondent Cecilia Vega, the sources confirmed.
The big picture: Weiss was hired by David Ellison, chairman and CEO of CBS parent Paramount Skydance, in October when he acquired her news site The Free Press.
- Her tenure has been marked by a series of controversies, mostly stemming from tension between her and "60 Minutes" staff around editorial decision-making.
Zoom out: "60 Minutes" has been the highest-rated news program on U.S. television for more than 50 seasons and is considered a revered institution within CBS News.
- Any changes to the program that are perceived as a threat to its editorial independence have been met with frustration by some of the show's biggest stars.
- Owens, in his resignation, cited a loss of editorial independence following corporate pressure to settle a $20 billion lawsuit filed by President Donald Trump in his resignation.
