The next season of “60 Minutes” will likely be brought to you by a handful of pharmaceutical sponsors and a whole lot of pressure.
When Bari Weiss, the one-time digital provocateur who was installed as editor in chief last year at CBS News, overhauled the venerable newsmagazine in May and June — ousting two of its top editorial personnel and two of its best-known on-air personalities — she set in motion something to which producers in the off season have not always been accustomed: chaos.
To be sure, “60 Minutes” has tangled with corporate attorneys, politicians and other challenging subjects. But the program has never had to grapple with its own internal processes being undermined from within. When Weiss cut former executive producer Tanya Simon, executive editor Draggan Mahialvich, and Sharyn Alfoni and Cecelia Vega (with Scott Pelley exiled later), she did so at a critical moment (Anderson Cooper in February announced he would step away from the program after nearly two decades, marking another reduction in veteran staff). Most of the show’s personalities try to have a produced story on an evergreen topic like health, science or culture in the can before taking a vacation in July. This year, according to people familiar with the program, much of that work wasn’t approved, and therefore was not filed in timely fashion.
