’60 Minutes’ welcomes new staff after Scott Pelley firing
CBS is welcoming its next batch of on-air talent for “60 Minutes” after letting go Scott Pelley and more staffers.
Get ready for “60 Minutes” of change this Sunday.
CBS’s “60 Minutes,” the venerated newsmagazine program returns for its 59th season Sept. 13 (7:30 p.m. ET/PT) and it won’t look or feel exactly the same it has for the past 58 years, whether that’s the faces of the newscasters, the graphic design, the format, or, potentially, the stories being covered.
That’s because the legacy news program is under a mandate for updates and change under the new directorship of executive producer Nick Bilton. This new management has culled the ranks of many longtime “60 Minutes” employees, hired new correspondents and producers and instituted other updates.
All the controversy-causing alterations at “60 Minutes” and other CBS News programs have come after conservative-leaning journalist Bari Weiss was hired as Editor-in-Chief of all of CBS News, including TV shows on the network and online media operation. CBS’s parent company Paramount merged with Skydance in 2025, and new CEO David Ellison, son of Oracle CEO, billionaire and prominent Trump supporter Larry Ellison, installed Weiss as part of broader changes at the company.
These changes, particularly the firing of long-time correspondent Scott Pelley in June, have made headlines around the world and placed a microscope over the forthcoming season of “60 Minutes,” the first under Bilton’s full stewardship.
Ahead of the Season 59 premiere, here’s everything you need to know about the new version of “60 Minutes,” still the highest-rated news show in America, soon to grace our screens every Sunday night.
What’s different about ’60 Minutes’ as it heads into its 59th season?
Bilton and Weiss came into the “60 Minutes” world with a mandate for change, and they are delivering, according to a recent interview with Bilton.
“Over the summer, we’ve made changes to every aspect of the broadcast to make it stronger,” Bilton told The New York Times ahead of the premiere. “While each of those changes represents a slight departure from the way it’s been done in the past, it will make for a new approach to ‘60 Minutes’ in its totality.”
Those changes, Bilton told the newspaper, include a change in the way the show is shot by the cameras, a sleeker look to the graphics and a new segment for the end of the show, launching later in the season. The show is even transitioning from its grainy, vintage look into updated 4K resolution, Bilton said.
Of course, the revisions to the program also include staffing, in front of and behind the camera.
Who has left ’60 Minutes’ amid turmoil and controversy? Who was fired?
The shakeup at “60 Minutes” included the firings of Pelley, executive producer Tanya Simon, executive editor Draggan Mihailovich and correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega earlier this year. Bilton was fired for cause following a heated staff meeting in which he is heard accusing Weiss of “murdering” the news program and arguing with Bilton.
In a note obtained by USA TODAY on June 2, Bilton told Pelley, 68, that he was hoping they could pave a “path forward together” following an instance of “misconduct” but said, “You made it clear that you are not interested in such a path.”
Pelley responded publicly to the scandal in a June 7 episode of the New York Times’ “The Interview” podcast, and said he doesn’t feel “sorry” for himself but cares about the “people that I left behind” at “60 Minutes” and about “this institution that I love so much.”
“The best thing that I can imagine in terms of describing it is that it’s like your spouse was murdered,” he said. “There’s some moments of the day I feel fine. There’s some moments of the day that I just, frankly, fall apart, when I least expect it.”
Pelley and the producers’ exits were precipitated by the much more amicable departure of Anderson Cooper after two decades at the program. He received an emotional goodbye segment on the show’s May 17 Season 58 finale.
Who are the new faces at ’60 Minutes’?
Pelley and others are out, but there are still enough journalists to report the news. Conservative New York Times columnist Ross Douthat will be a correspondent for the newsmagazine broadcast, joined by Norah O’Donnell. Other new contributors include “The Perfect Storm” author Sebastian Junger, Vice News alum Gianna Toboni and prominent British broadcaster Trevor Phillips.
Executive producer Bilton, 50, comes to “60 Minutes” without much experience in the broadcast journalism world, which he told the Times was an asset.
Most recently, Bilton was a technology columnist at The New York Times. In addition to his work at The New York Times, Bilton has contributed to features and investigative coverage at Vanity Fair. He has also penned books “American Kingpin: The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road” and “Hatching Twitter: A True Story of Money, Power, Friendship, and Betrayal.”
Bilton is also the cohost of the tech podcast “The Nick, Dick and Paul Show,” and has directed, written and produced documentaries like “The Inventor,” “Fake Famous” and “Biggest Heist Ever.”
Will ’60 Minutes’ become biased politically?
Criticism and concern about “60 Minutes” from current and former staffers, as well as onlookers, has revolved around the editorial independence of the famously fair-handed news program, and a sense that new management would push the program to the political right.
When asked if President Trump is “fair game” by the Times, Bilton said, “One thousand percent,” along with “everyone else in Washington, regardless of which side you’re on.”
However, The Guardian reported Sept. 8 that former managing editor Guy Campnile wrote in a private Facebook post strongly criticizing what he saw as editorial interference.
“We would not compromise our principles or reputations by jamming unverifiable notions or White House talking points into our reporting,” he wrote, referring to other fired producers and correspondents including Pelley, Tanya Simon, Draggan Mihailovich, Matthew Polevoy, Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega. “We objected when told to conduct interviews arranged by the administration.”
USA TODAY has not been able to independently verify the Facebook post.
Contributing: Anthony Robledo, Greta Cross, Taijuan Moorman, USA TODAY