Shake-Up at CBS as ‘60 Minutes’ Executive Producer Tanya Simon Is Fired, Sharyn Alfonsi Ousted

CBS News’ editor-in-chief, Bari Weiss, is making significant changes at “60 Minutes,” ousting the show’s two top producers and two correspondents. Earlier this month, the Hollywood Reporter published an article that said Ms. Weiss was preparing “significant changes” for the newsmagazine program. The show is on break for the summer. On Thursday, Puck’s Dylan Byers reported that the network had fired the executive producer of “60 Minutes,” Tanya Simon, the daughter of legendary CBS correspondent Bob Simon, and her No. 2, Draggan Mihailovich. Also fired were two “60 Minutes” correspondents: Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega. Ms. Weiss later posted on X that she was bringing on a former technology columnist at the New York Times and Vanity Fair contributor, Nick Bilton, to be the program’s new executive producer. The ouster of Ms. Alfonsi comes a day after she disclosed that her contract with “60 Minutes” had not been renewed, but that she was — until Thursday — still employed at the network.“This was not a routine corporate transition; it was a deliberate choice to penalize a journalist for refusing to sanitize factually accurate reporting,” she said in a statement about her contract. “It sends a chilling message to the entire newsroom.”Ms. Alfonsi was responsible for a story about Venezuelan migrants who were being sent from America to El Salvador’s CECOT prison that was originally scheduled to air in December. CBS temporarily held the segment after the network had advertised it; Ms. Weiss said it did not provide new information beyond what had previously been reported about CECOT, and noted it did not have any statements from administration officials. The story eventually aired, largely unchanged, but Ms. Alfonsi harshly criticized the network over the delay. Earlier this month, she was awarded the Ridenhour prize for courage and skewered CBS’s new management. “I will not linger on the internal mechanics of the dust-up at CBS that led to our CECOT story being pulled, but we have to be honest about what it represents,” she said. “It wasn’t an isolated editorial argument. In my view, it was the result of a more aggressive contagion: the spread of corporate meddling and editorial fear. It’s hard to watch.”The departures of Ms. Alfonsi and Ms. Vega mean that the program will have lost three correspondents in a matter of weeks. May 17 marked journalist Anderson Cooper’s last appearance on the program after roughly two decades at the show. In an interview that was published by CBS, Mr. Cooper appeared to criticize Ms. Weiss, saying that “independence” is “crucial” to the program. He also said that the person who oversees the show “requires an appreciation of the history and the sacrifices and the hard work of the people here.”The “60 Minutes” team has had a contentious relationship with network executives for more than a year. The tensions started as CBS and its parent company, Paramount, navigated President Trump’s lawsuit against the network over its editing of Vice President Harris’s October 2024 interview with “60 Minutes.”Amid dissent over how to handle the lawsuit, the former executive producer of “60 Minutes,” Bill Owens, and the former head of CBS News, Wendy McMahon, resigned. The Status newsletter reported that the “60 Minutes” team sent a letter to the head of Paramount, urging the company not to settle Mr. Trump’s lawsuit. Two correspondents, Scott Pelley and Lesley Stahl, were outspoken in their criticism of the network’s handling of the situation. Mr. Pelley delivered a rare on-air rebuke of Paramount after Mr. Owens’ departure. And Ms. Stahl told “The New Yorker Radio Hour” that she was “angry” at the then-nonexecutive chairwoman of Paramount, Shari Redstone, for her efforts to settle the president’s litigation. The Guardian’s Jeremy Barr reported that Ms. Stahl and Mr. Pelley were “not impacted” by the cuts. In July, Paramount agreed to pay $16 million to settle the lawsuit but refused to apologize for the editing. Weeks later, the Federal Communications Commission approved Skydance’s acquisition of Paramount. Skydance made written commitments to the FCC that CBS News would produce unbiased journalism. But while the new owners of the Tiffany Network have tried to shift its editorial voice, “60 Minutes” has continued to produce stories that have frustrated Mr. Trump and conservatives. After the show interviewed Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene in December, Mr. Trump claimed that the program had treated him “worse” since the Skydance acquisition. The shake-up on Thursday appears to signal that significant changes could be coming for “60 Minutes.” In a letter posted on X, Mr. Bilton, who has made several Netflix and HBO documentaries, said that he is “here to lead this show, not preserve it under glass.”He added that he has a “notebook full of ideas” for the show, saying “some are about the show itself” and “some are about the next generation of correspondents.”In a statement, Ms. Weiss called Mr. Bilton “one of the most entrepreneurial and ambitious journalists working today.”CBS did not respond to the Sun’s request for comment by the time of publication.

Shake-Up at CBS as ‘60 Minutes’ Executive Producer Tanya Simon Is Fired, Sharyn Alfonsi Ousted

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