CBS News fires '60 Minutes' correspondents, top producer in sweeping shakeup of storied program
CBS News has fired Sharyn Alfonsi, Cecilia Vega, and top producer Tanya Simon from "60 Minutes" as new editor-in-chief Bari Weiss overhauls the program.
CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss poached one of her former New York Times colleagues as part of the network's major shakeup of "60 Minutes" ahead of its 59th season.
Newly minted "60 Minutes" executive producer Nick Bilton announced to staff Tuesday that conservative New York Times columnist Ross Douthat will be joining the program as a correspondent.
"He makes controversial topics approachable and renders characters and points of view with richness and compassion. Ross will bring this big and ranging curiosity to our air," Bilton told staffers in the memo obtained by Fox News Digital.
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CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss poached her former New York Times colleague Ross Douthat as a new "60 Minutes" correspondent. (Noam Galai/Getty Images for The Free Press)
New York Times Opinion editor Kathleen Kingsbury addressed Douthat's departure from the paper after 17 years in a note to staff and thanked him "for arguing in good faith, for a year of doing it in a format that gave you nowhere to hide and for reminding all of us, on every side of every question, what a column is for. We are enormously grateful, and we will miss you."
A spokesperson for the Times declined to comment further.
CBS News veteran Norah O'Donnell will also join "60 Minutes" as a correspondent, according to the Bilton memo.
"Norah has contributed exceptional pieces to the show for more than a dozen years, including interviews with Pope Francis, President Trump, President Biden and Mohammed bin Salman," Bilton said of the former "CBS Evening News" anchor.
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Newly-minted "60 Minutes" executive producer Nick Bilton, announced a slew of new additions to his program, including CBS News veteran Norah O'Donnell. (Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images)
Additionally, Bilton announced a slew of "60 Minutes" contributors, including journalist and documentary filmmaker Sebastian Junger, former Vice News correspondent Gianna Toboni, who was previously tapped by CBS News as a national correspondent, and former Sky News presenter Trevor Phillips, whom CBS News recently hired as its senior global affairs correspondent.
"We couldn’t be more excited about this news. Please join us in welcoming these new colleagues," Weiss and CBS News President Tom Cibrowski told network staff.
BARI WEISS ADDRESSES SCOTT PELLEY FIRING IN CBS NEWS STAFF CALL, SAYS IT'S THE ‘PATH THAT HE CHOSE’
"60 Minutes" correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega as well as executive producer Tanya Simon were fired as part of a major overhaul of the CBS News program. (Michele Crowe/CBS News©2025 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved)
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The announcement comes after a slew of firings from "60 Minutes," including its executive producer, Tanya Simon, as well as correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi, Cecilia Vega and Scott Pelley, fueling tensions within CBS News and sparking backlash from liberal critics. Veteran correspondents Lesley Stahl, Bill Whitaker and Jon Wertheim remain with the program while Anderson Cooper announced his exit earlier this year.
