’60 Minutes’ Tensions Rise as Lesley Stahl Is Reportedly Pushed Aside by Bari Weiss

Bari Weiss and Lesley Stahl
Bari Weiss and Lesley Stahl (Noam Galai/Getty Images for The Free Press; Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)

What To Know

  • Tensions continue to rise at 60 Minutes after decisions made by CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss.
  • Weiss reportedly pushed Lesley Stahl aside in favor of CBS News correspondent Major Garrett.
  • 60 Minutes airs its season finale on Sunday (May 17) and may look completely different when it returns.

There is more behind-the-scenes drama at 60 Minutes after CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss reportedly pushed aside longtime correspondent Lesley Stahl in favor of another reporter.

According to a new report from Oliver Darcy’s Status newsletter, Stahl had spent months trying to snag an interview with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. However, Weiss stepped in, booked Netanyahu herself, and gave the interview to Major Garrett, a CBS News correspondent who doesn’t work for 60 Minutes.

Darcy claimed that Weiss’ move “sparked hostility and amplified the already strained relationship between Weiss and the reporting team at the iconic newsmagazine.”

Tensions between Weiss and 60 Minutes have been brewing for months, ever since The Free Press co-founder yanked one of Sharyn Alfonsi‘s segments just hours before airtime. Alfonsi accused Weiss of holding the story because it critiqued the Trump administration. Weiss, on the other hand, said she pulled the story because it lacked on-record responses from the administration. The segment eventually aired in January.

A recent Page Six Hollywood report claimed that Alfonsi is on the chopping block and will be “out at the end of the month when her contract expires.” The outlet also reported that Alfonsi is looking to work with lawyer Bryan Freedman to go up against Weiss if she is axed.

As for the situation between Weiss and Stahl, a CBS News spokesperson told Status, “It’s the editor in chief’s job to make decisions about bookings and interviews. Major is a world-class journalist and did a tough, fair, and newsmaking interview.”

This isn’t the first time Weiss has made booking decisions for 60 Minutes. In March, she assigned Garrett an interview with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, which aired on the long-running news magazine broadcast. According to Status, this has led to deep frustration among the 60 Minutes staff and worries about the show’s future.

60 Minutes airs its season finale this coming Sunday (May 17), and Darcy predicted it may mark the end of the show as viewers know it, as Weiss looks to reshape the program in her own vision.

60 Minutes, Sundays, 7/6 c, CBS




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  1. .

    .

    The race to the bottom at CBS News continues.

  2. G

    Glum

    Let's face it, 60 minutes as we knew it is over.

  3. B

    Barbara.

    I love watching 60 Minutes but now that Bari Weiss is doing her thing. The program will never be the same. I will miss it.

  4. S

    shep

    Could not happen to a more deserving person. Ms. Stahl. What a mean and awful person when I was an intern at CBS in 1976. Just rude and condescending. Payback can be a byotch as one of my former bosses said when working at a railroad.