'60 Minutes' gets major staff shakeup – Who made the cut
'60 Minutes' gets major staff shakeup – Who made the cut
Bryan Alexander, USA TODAYFri, May 29, 2026 at 12:44 AM UTC
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CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss continued the staffing shakeup at "60 Minutes" on Thursday, May 28, naming Nick Bilton the executive producer of gold-standard TV news program.
The move sets TV newcomer Bilton, a former New York Times technology reporter, podcast host and filmmaker, into the top "60 Minutes" job amid a tumultuous wave of high-level changes at the 57-year-old news program.
CNN anchor Anderson Cooper signed off after 20 years as a "60 Minutes" star correspondent in an emotional final show on May 17 on the news program, saying he wanted to spend more time with his children.
Here's who else is out at the iconic show.
Anderson Cooper left "60 Minutes" this month, Nick Bilton was named executive producer on May 28.Out: '60 Minutes' executive producer Tanya Simon
"60 Minutes" executive producer Tanya Simon, the first woman to hold the top job, announced that she will be leaving the news program on May 28, The New York Times reported. Simon, the daughter of "60 Minutes" correspondent Bob Simon, was formally appointed to the top spot in July 2025 and had worked at the news program for more than three decades.
In her leaked exit memo, published on X by media correspondent Brian Stelter, Simon said, "My time as Executive Producer of 60 Minutes and at CBS News is coming to an end."
"I could not be prouder of what we have built, fought for, and delivered together over the last year," Simon added.
Draggan Mihailovich, the executive editor of "60 Minutes," was also allegedly fired, as was Matthew Polevoy, a senior producer of the news magazine show, according to The New York Times.
Sharyn Alfonsi at the Alliance for Women in Media Foundation's 51st Annual Gracie Awards at the Beverly Wilshire on May 19, 2026, in Beverly Hills, California.Out: '60 Minutes' correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi
Longtime "60 Minutes" correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi announced on May 28 that her time at CBS News has ended after nearly two decades. The respected TV reporter cited an editorial dispute over a December story on the Trump administration's enforcement of immigration procedures as the reason her contract wasn't renewed when it expired over Memorial Day weekend.
The Alfonsi-produced story on El Salvador's notorious megaprison, CECOT, was pulled by Weiss in December, just hours before its runtime; a CBS spokesperson told USA TODAY at that time that the story required additional reporting. An early version was mistakenly streamed on Canada's Global TV app, and was later widely circulated online before it finally aired on Sunday, Jan. 18.
"Following an intense editorial dispute over our CECOT story, repeated attempts by my representation to establish a path forward were met with absolute silence from network executives," Alfonsi said in a statement to the Los Angeles Times. "The message could not be clearer: my time at 60 Minutes is apparently over."
Cecilia Vega attends the 2026 White House Correspondents' Dinner on April 25, 2026.Out: Cecilia Vega, first Latina correspondent at '60 Minutes'
Cecilia Vega, the first Latina correspondent in "60 Minutes" history, was fired on May 28, the New York Times reported.
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In a statement to Deadline, Vega said that she has “the utmost respect and admiration for my colleagues at '60 Minutes' and the stories that air every Sunday. But I very much fear what comes next for and the future of the legendary broadcast.”
Vega said that she was fired, even though her contract was not set to expire until next March. She also alleged that there were "efforts to insert political bias into our stories" at the network. CBS News did not respond to requests for comment on any of the staffing changes.
"Reporting teams have held back on submitting story pitches about important news topics out of fear of the internal repercussions," she said. "Let’s call this what it is: censorship, both imposed and self-driven. It is dangerous for the show and dangerous for democracy."
Vega joined "60 Minutes" in 2023 from ABC News, where she worked as chief White House correspondent.
"CBS Evening News" anchor Tony Dokoupil speaks at the 2026 Semafor World Economy summit in Washington, D.C., on April 15, 2026.Other changes at CBS News
Weiss has made other changes at the network, moving Tony Dokoupil, who'd been cohosting "CBS Mornings" alongside Gayle King, to the anchor chair of "CBS Evening News" on Dec. 10. Dokoupil's tenure, which followed the 2024 departure of anchor Norah O'Donnell, began Jan. 3 and still lags far behind its competitors.
There have been many critics of the changes, including Santiago Campos, a senior from Washington, D.C.’s District of Columbia International School, who was awarded the Mike Wallace Memorial Scholarship, in honor of the famed CBS newsman at the News & Documentaries Emmys on Wednesday, May 28.
"While I want to thank CBS News for funding this generous gift towards my education, I want to also acknowledge how the recent direction of the outlet stains the legacy of Mike Wallace, the namesake of this scholarship," Campos said while accepting the award, presented to him by Scott Pelley.
He continued: "As corporate elites take hold over the very pipes through which our information flows, journalism that serves people becomes increasingly harder to come by, yet ever more crucial, and what the people want is the truth. So, if at any time you hesitate to utter the word genocide or remain silent in the face of blatant lies. Remember to ask yourself, Who is this for? I hope you choose us."
Bilton, who will relocate from Los Angeles to New York, told the New York Times he's "excited to jump into" his new role. "When you take an insider and you put them inside a company, nothing changes," he said.
The "60 Minutes" watch is ticking.
Contributing: Edward Segarra, Anthony Robledo
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: '60 Minutes' shakeup – what to know about staff changes
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
