In her most significant move yet since taking over CBS News last year, the network’s editor in chief Bari Weiss launched a major overhaul of its flagship newsmagazine 60 Minutes, installing veteran features journalist Nick Bilton as the new executive producer of the venerable newsweekly, while parting ways with a handful of top producers and correspondents.
The broadcaster made a series of moves to shake-up the program, terminating exec producer Tanya Simon as well as correspondents Cecilia Vega and Sharyn Alfonsi after the Memorial Day holiday. Other senior producers were also let go.
Free Press founder Weiss, who joined CBS last October, had long telegraphed that major changes were afoot in an effort to remake 60 Minutes under a new ownership regime led by Paramount CEO David Ellison. The Hollywood Reporter reported back in February that Weiss was looking to overhaul the program, which is the most watched news show in America.
“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,” stated Weiss on Thursday. “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.”
