‘60 Minutes’ Taps Ross Douthat as a Correspondent
What To Know
- Ross Douthat, a New York Times opinion columnist, has been hired as a correspondent for CBS’s 60 Minutes.
- This hiring follows major leadership and staffing shakeups at 60 Minutes, initiated by new editor-in-chief Bari Weiss.
New York Times opinion columnist Ross Douthat is joining 60 Minutes as a correspondent for the long-running CBS newsmagazine. The move was announced to staff in a memo on Tuesday, July 28, per The New York Times.
Douthat is among the first significant hires at the long-running Sunday newsmagazine since CBS editor-in-chief Bari Weiss orchestrated a shake-up that led to the departure of top correspondents this spring, including Scott Pelley.
He will join 60 Minutes for Season 59, premiering September 13, alongside former Vice News correspondent Gianna Toboni and journalist Trevor Phillips, who joined CBS last month. Former CBS Evening News anchor Norah O’Donnell will also serve as a correspondent.
The CBS News shakeups were triggered when Weiss was appointed editor-in-chief by new parent-company leadership, followed by immediate editorial interventions, most notably her controversial decision to kill a 60 Minutes segment on an El Salvador prison.
Weiss also fired top 60 Minutes executive producer Tanya Simon, replacing her with tech journalist Nick Bilton, and axed prominent correspondents including Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega.
The behind-the-scenes shakeups eventually reached a boiling point in June, when longtime correspondent Scott Pelley confronted the show’s new producer, Nick Bilton, over Weiss’ changes during a heated staff meeting. Pelley reportedly accused Weiss of “murdering” 60 Minutes and told Bilton he had “slender qualifications” for the job. The next day, Bilton sent Pelley a termination letter informing him that he had been fired.
Speaking to The New York Times after his axing, Pelley said the leadership at CBS News doesn’t “know what they’re doing,” adding, “We have people who’ve been installed in these jobs who through no fault of their own have no experience in television.” He also claimed that “there’s a subtle political bias that I’ve never seen at 60 Minutes before, or at CBS News before.”
Douthat and the other new faces will join 60 Minutes veterans Bill Whitaker, Leslie Stahl, Jon Wertheim, and Norah O’Donnell, who are all staying with the show despite the recent turmoil.
60 Minutes, Sundays, 7/6c, CBS
Conversation4 Comments
Please read the TV Insider Community Guidelines.
Register or sign in to join the conversation.
-
E
So, a conservative opinion columnist. Not an actual reporter. Yeah, that's... exactly what everyone was afraid of.
-
S
The tearing down of this show just gets better. Putting incompetent people in positions they have no business doing. Kind of like a certain prez and his incompetents. How's that working out?
-
-
S
If I start seeing stories like " The Heroes of Jan 6th" and these new hires are talking about red hats with cigs hanging I'm going to have a problem with the "new and improved" "60 Minutes". We'll see. If "60 Minutes" looks anything like Doukopil's "CBS Evening News" this show and it's fans are in big trouble.
-
G
Well, is it REALLY NEWS, if you keep on kissing dear leaders...busted hand? It's NOT.
Watchlist Easy access to only the shows you care about — all in one simple place
Alerts Only important notifications — when a show is returning, when it becomes available to stream, and more.
Special Offers Exclusive products we release related to your favorite shows and streaming services