New CBS 60 Minutes executive producer Nick Bilton praised the show’s three remaining correspondents, Lesley Stahl, Bill Whitaker and Jon Wertheim, and pledged that the venerable newsmagazine would be free from corporate pressure, in a memo to the show’s staff Thursday afternoon.
Bilton said he had consulted with the three correspondents before sending the note.
“We talked about what makes 60 Minutes exceptional, about the traditions and legacy of the past, about how you do the work that produces such momentous pieces,” he wrote. “The foundation of 60 Minutes is its journalistic independence. We will always pursue stories without fear or favor.”
“We will always make the story the North Star — not relationships nor politics nor anything else,” he added. “We will be guided solely and always by what makes the best piece for our viewers. And it should go without saying, but I’ll say it anyway: We will never be instructed by the ownership of the company on those stories.”
Read Bilton’s memo below.
