New "60 Minutes" head faces blowback as staffers rebuke changes
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Nick Bilton at the Vanity Fair New Establishment Summit on Oct. 3, 2017. Photo: Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images
Nick Bilton, the newly installed executive producer of "60 Minutes," faces a crisis of confidence as senior CBS News staffers openly rebuke his appointment amid broader backlash to changes at the show and network.
Why it matters: "60 Minutes" has spent more than 50 consecutive seasons as the top-rated news program in the country. Its insular culture within CBS News is what insiders credit for preserving its editorial sanctity.
- While new CBS News leaders argue changes are necessary to help the show modernize for the digital era, the network's top talent worry innovation is being used as a cover for seizing more editorial control.
State of play: Longtime "60 Minutes" correspondent Scott Pelley told Bilton Monday that he was hardly qualified for his role and that CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss was "murdering" the program, the New York Times reported. A source familiar with the encounter confirmed the exchange to Axios.
- The exchange occurred during Bilton's first meeting with members of the "60 Minutes" team in New York City.
- Pelley argued Weiss' efforts to overhaul CBS Evening News have been "catastrophic," and said she too was not qualified for her role.
Later on Monday, Bill Owens, the show's former executive producer, said at a press event that the recent upheaval is a "pity because CBS News and '60 Minutes' are institutions, not places where partisans and ideologues should be employed."
- "My colleagues at '60 Minutes' were told to their faces that they would be able to do their jobs as they always had. That has not happened," he said.
- Owens resigned from the show in April 2025, citing concerns about journalistic independence. Owens was named executive producer of the program in 2019, becoming just the third person to lead the show in its 57-year history.
Between the lines: The tense meeting occurred days after CBS News confirmed the show parted ways with longtime producer turned interim executive producer Tanya Simon, as well as correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega.
- Alfonsi, who clashed with Weiss over the delayed airing of one of her reports, railed against Weiss in her exit memo.
- Pelley reportedly called out Weiss earlier this year for not prioritizing screenings of a "60 Minutes" segment that was pulled from the air last minute.
The intrigue: A source familiar with the network's inner workings said Bilton reached out to Pelley directly before the meeting, but his outreach went unanswered.
Zoom out: Bilton, a CBS outsider, told Axios last week he plans to expand the show's reach to more days and across more platforms.
- He has, to staff and to reporters publicly, stated his commitment to the show's reputation for resource-intensive investigative journalism.
Yes, but: Journalists inside and outside CBS News aren't buying it.
- Bilton, a documentarian and former tech columnist for the New York Times and a special correspondent for Vanity Fair, has no broadcast experience.
- On Monday, The Guardian reported that dozens of former CBS News staffers wrote a letter to Paramount chair David Ellison urging him to "uphold editorial independence" at "60 Minutes."
- Separately, dozens of journalists, including Alfonsi, on Monday signed an open letter slamming Paramount's proposed merger with Warner Bros. Discovery as a threat to press freedoms.
- Last year, top "60 Minutes" talent wrote a letter urging top Paramount brass to defend the network's journalism amid a lawsuit from President Trump that the network eventually settled.
Editor's note: This story was updated with additional remarks from Bill Owens.
