Calling for ‘new approach,’ CBS News leader Bari Weiss replaces executive producer at ‘60 Minutes’

NEW YORK: Saying it was time for a new approach and a new chapter, CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss has replaced the executive producer of “60 Minutes,” naming outsider Nick Bilton, a longtime technology journalist and documentarian, as the show’s new leader.

Executive producer Tanya Simon will be leaving about a year after being named to the job following 30 years at the venerable Sunday evening program. The moves cap a period of turmoil for the venerable newsmagazine that premiered in 1968 and is known for its ticking stopwatch.

In a memo to staff Thursday, Weiss and CBS News President Tom Cibrowski said their goal was “building a show that thrives in the 21st century.”

“That requires a new approach,” Weiss and Cibrowski wrote, defining it as “expanding ‘60 Minutes’ beyond a one-hour television broadcast, deepening its role across CBS News, and holding everything we produce to the ambition, fairness, and fearlessness that have defined ‘60 Minutes’ at its best.”