anderson cooper

With the 2026-27 season premiere of “60 Minutes” just two months away, CBS News leadership is getting closer to deciding who will fill the recent departures of longtime correspondents Scott Pelley, Sharon Alfonsi, Cecilia Vega and Anderson Cooper.

Seth Doane, a longtime correspondent based in Italy who is often seen on “CBS Sunday Morning,” is under consideration, along with chief investigative correspondent Jim Axelrod, who currently has a lead role in the “Eye On America” series featured on the “CBS Evening News with Tony Dokoupil.”

Trevor Phillips, a British journalist and former politician who recently joined CBS News as senior global affairs correspondent, is expected to have a role on the program, according to people briefed on the plan. Phillips had a long career in the U.K., producing and writing documentaries and most recently hosted the Sky News program “Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips.”

Phillips received a knighthood in 2022 for his service to equality and human rights for the U.K. But he also generated controversy over his career for comments about the British Muslim community, which led to a yearlong suspension from the Labor Party in 2020.

A CBS News representative declined comment beyond saying the division is looking at a number of internal and external candidates.

Dokoupil is expected to deliver four “60 Minutes” pieces a season. Major Garrett, the network’s chief Washington correspondent, will also have a contributor role.

Matt Gutman, hired from ABC News last year as national correspondent, is under strong consideration. He is being put in front of test audiences, according to several people at the network.

Holly Williams, a foreign correspondent working out of Istanbul for CBS News since 2012, and Mariana van Zeller, a journalist for National Geographic Channel, are both said to remain in contention.

The newcomers will join Bill Whitaker, Lesley Stahl, Jon Wertheim and Norah O’Donnell, who are all returning as correspondents. O’Donnell will also continue in her role as senior correspondent for the network, occasionally anchoring specials.

The rebuild of the talent lineup comes after the upheaval at the program that has occurred since Bari Weiss joined CBS News as editor in chief in October.

Pelley was fired last month after confronting management about the May 28 dismissal of his colleagues Alfonsi and Vega along with the program’s executive producer Tanya Simon and her second-in-command Draggan Mihailovich.

In February, Cooper decided not to sign a new deal as a “60 Minutes” contributor, as the CNN anchor cited a desire to spend more time with his family. But Cooper has reportedly told colleagues that he does not want to work for Weiss.

The internal disruption at “60 Minutes” followed a highly successful season. In its 57th season, “60 Minutes” was the most watched news program on television with an average of 9.1 million viewers a week, according to Nielsen data. The program bucked the overall decline in traditional TV viewing by growing 9% over the previous season.

After the dismissal of his “60 Minutes” colleagues, Pelley accused Weiss of trying to “murder” the program and claimed she was putting “her thumb on the scale” for more favorable coverage of the Trump administration. He was fired with cause after confronting management at a June 1 meeting.

Weiss came to CBS when parent company Paramount acquired her digital website The Free Press, known for its criticism of progressive policies and its strong support of Israel.

Weiss was hired by Paramount Chief Executive David Ellison with a mandate to move the news division to the political center. The pronouncement has created the perception that CBS News is looking to placate the Trump administration as Paramount sought regulatory approval for its $111-billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, which will also give the company ownership of CNN.

The noise surrounding Weiss has hurt CBS News despite strong reporting that is often far from being pro-MAGA. This past weekend’s “CBS Sunday Morning” featured a segment from national security correspondent David Martin about the Department of Defense interfering with the editorial independence of Stars & Stripes, the military newspaper.

Trump complained vehemently about his last interview with O’Donnell on “60 Minutes,” — conducted the day after a gunman tried to enter the White House Correspondents Assn. dinner in Washington on April 25.

June 3 (UPI) — CBS News fired veteran journalist Scott Pelley from 60 Minutes after an argument with its new executive producer two days before.

Pelley, 68, is a former anchor of the CBS Evening News and joined the network in 1989. Pelley is a familiar face on Sunday evenings as a correspondent for 60 Minutes.

On Monday, Pelley took issue with the recent firing of two correspondents and the show’s leadership team. He told his new producer Nick Bilton, a tech journalist hired last week, that CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss was “murdering 60 Minutes.”

“She was brought in to kill it, and she’s been doing exactly that,” The Hill reported Pelley told Bilton.

In a memo to staff Tuesday evening, Bilton said, “We have parted ways with Scott Pelley,” The New York Times reported. The network chose not to comment.

Bilton wrote a formal letter to Pelley explaining his termination, which was shared with The Times. He told Pelley he was “terminated for cause effective immediately.”

“I have been in combat in Afghanistan,” Pelley told The Times in an interview. “I have been in combat in Iraq. I have been in the war zone in Ukraine multiple times, risking my life and the happiness of my family because of my devotion to the broadcast.”

He said he still cares deeply about the show.

The program is CBS News’ most successful show, and its ratings were up 9% over last year. It’s often among the highest-rated weekly broadcasts in the country, according to Nielson.

In the letter from Bilton, he said Pelley “hijacked” the meeting Monday

“Yesterday’s performative display of hostility enacted in front of the staff instead of in a civil, private conversation, demonstrated that you have no interest in contributing to the future success of the show, or approaching my new tenure with a mind open to collaboration and progress,” Bilton wrote. “I am here to deliver first-in-class news programming, not to make headlines about newsroom drama. I am eager to work alongside those who share this goal.”

Pelley, in The Times interview, said the letter “betrays a complete misunderstanding of what we work for and what we live for at 60 Minutes.”

He also told The Times on Tuesday that “incompetence and unprofessionalism in the new management have wreaked havoc” at the network. “The collapse of values at the top has become untenable.”

He alleged that management had pressured him to insert bias into his stories over the past season, though he didn’t give details.

Now the show is down four of its correspondents: Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega were fired last week, and Anderson Cooper left the show in May at the end of the season.

Weiss was hired last year by David Ellison, CBS owner and son of tech mogul Larry Ellison. She was given the order to revamp the news for the digital era. Weiss is an opinion writer with little broadcast experience. Bilton is a tech journalist with no experience in broadcasting.

CBS management had a meeting with Pelley on Tuesday to discuss the situation and find a way to move forward, but it turned contentious, some people with knowledge told The Times. Pelley said in the interview with The Times that Weiss wouldn’t answer his questions about why Simon, Alfonsi and Vega were fired.

Pelley said Weiss’ behavior “was cold and callous and beneath the dignity of CBS News.”

Weiss told staff Wednesday morning that “despite our attempts to engage with Scott Pelley and to find a way back, unfortunately we weren’t able to do so, and so we had to part ways.”

But Pelley said it wasn’t true. “At no point did anyone at the Tuesday meeting suggest that there could be steps taken by either side that would lead to a resolution,” he said.

The venerable news magazine “60 Minutes” is undergoing a major overhaul under CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss.

Weiss announced Thursday the appointment of new executive producer to replace Tanya Simon, a 26-year veteran of the program who took over the top job last July. She will be replaced by Nick Bilton, a former New York Times technology columnist and documentary filmmaker.

Bilton will be the first executive producer in the 58-year history of “60 Minutes” to come from outside of the tightly knit organization. The program has only had four leaders in its history — Don Hewitt, Jeff Fager, Bill Owens and Simon — all of whom came up through the ranks of CBS News.

Weiss is said to have developed a solid relationship with Simon, whose late father Bob Simon was a highly respected correspondent for the program. But the connection apparently deteriorated after Weiss did not receive an advance notice on Anderson Cooper’s sign off from the program ending his nearly 20-year run as a correspondent.

Cooper, who is also a full-time anchor at CNN, turned down a new “60 Minutes” deal from Weiss. During his final appearance, he expressed fears about the editorial independence of the program.

Tanya Simon is the new executive producer of “60 Minutes.”

(Michele Crowe CBS News)

“Things can always evolve and change, and I think that’s awesome, and things should evolve and change, but I hope the core of what ’60 Minutes’ is always remains,” Anderson told viewers. “I think the independence of ’60 Minutes’ has been critical.”

Speculation over changes at “60 Minutes,” the most-watched news program on television for 52 consecutive years, have been swirling for months since Paramount Chief Executive David Ellison installed Weiss to oversee editorial content at CBS News.

The program has been in turmoil since Oct. 2024 when President Trump filed a $20 billion lawsuit against CBS over an interview conducted with then Vice President Kamala Harris that was settled to clear the regulatory path for Skydance Media’s acquisition of Paramount.

From a business standpoint, “60 Minutes” is a curious target. The program is one of the most profitable hours on the CBS prime time schedule while retaining its status as television’s most prestigious journalism operation. While the ratings for “60 Minutes” get a boost from a lead-in from high-rated NFL late afternoon games, it remains one of the few network shows that viewers make an appointment to watch.

Anderson Cooper has signed off from “60 Minutes” for the last time.

After two decades as a correspondent on the CBS’ news magazine, he officially ended his run Sunday night.

Cooper, who also hosts a news program on CNN, announced in February his plans to leave CBS, months after an internal shake-up that followed the arrival of editor-in-chief, Bari Weiss.

“Things can always evolve and change, and I think that’s awesome, and things should evolve and change, but I hope the core of what ’60 Minutes’ is always remains,” Anderson said on-air. “I think the independence of ’60 Minutes’ has been critical.”

Throughout the farewell segment, the 58-year-old journalist, who was hired in 2007, reminisced about some career highlights, like speaking with Holocaust survivors and people battling malnutrition in Niger, as well as interviewing A-listers like Lady Gaga and Prince Harry. He also said he hopes the show continues to be a reliable source of investigative journalism.

“I think the trust it has with viewers is critical to the success of ’60 Minutes.’ When you see a ’60 Minutes’ story, and you’re like, ‘That was a really good story.’ It was a good story because it requires time, it requires patience, it requires money,” he said. “I hope that’s known and honored and valued and continues.”

His departure comes at an uncharted time for CBS, as the company undergoes several leadership changes. Last year, billionaire David Ellison successfully merged his company, Skydance Media, with Paramount, CBS’s parent company. Soon after, Ellison hired Bari Weiss as CBS News editor-in-chief.

Two months after taking on the new role, Weiss made the widely panned decision to pull a “60 Minutes” episode that examined the alleged abuse of deportees sent from the U.S. to an El Salvador prison. The decision earned Weiss heavy criticism and accusations that the move was politically motivated, which CBS has denied.

Cooper said that he’s leaving the program to spend more time with his young children. He will remain as an anchor for CNN.

He added, “I hope ’60 Minutes’ is around for when my kids grow up and have kids of their own, and they can watch it with their kids.”