With layoffs widely expected and editorial tensions deepening, correspondents at CBS News are bracing for a post-season shakeup of the network’s flagship news programme, 60 Minutes. The show, which remains the most-watched news programme of the current broadcast season, drew 10.1 million viewers for its 12 April episode. Yet despite its continued success, persistent rumours suggest that the 59th season, beginning after 17 May, will look markedly different.
The next season will be the first fully under the purview of Bari Weiss, the controversial opinion writer installed as editor-in-chief after Skydance Media completed its acquisition of CBS’s parent company, Paramount Global, in August 2025. One longtime network insider said to expect “massive changes”, though the network is said to have no plans to alter the show’s format or award-winning mission. Layoffs are widely anticipated, and a CBS News staffer expressed concern that Weiss would damage the show “just like she has done with everything else at CBS News”. A third insider cautioned that they “don’t want to turn it upside down”.
In February, correspondent Anderson Cooper announced his departure from the show. On 30 April, another prominent correspondent, Sharyn Alfonsi, strongly suggested she is likely to be “fired” before next season. Speaking at the National Press Club after receiving the Ridenhour prize for courage, Alfonsi decried “the spread of corporate meddling and editorial fear” at the network, without directly naming Weiss. Weiss had previously shelved Alfonsi’s segment about the Trump administration deporting Venezuelans to a notorious prison in El Salvador, arguing it needed to better convey the administration’s perspective.
Alfonsi’s public rebuke is widely presumed to end her tenure at the show, a move that could cause significant backlash. Rome Hartman, a retired 60 Minutes producer, said: “If they don’t renew her, it is in direct retaliation for having the temerity to tell the truth.” A former 60 Minutes correspondent, speaking anonymously, said Alfonsi’s likely departure could create a chilling effect, making it hard for remaining correspondents to know “where the dial is” or what stories are permissible. A source close to the network pushed back on the notion that certain stories are off limits.
Concerns have also been voiced outside the company. CNN’s Christiane Amanpour last week expressed worry about the “ideological realignment” of CBS News and “the destruction, potentially, of 60 Minutes”, pointing to the influence of Paramount Skydance’s chief executive, David Ellison, and his father, Larry Ellison. A CBS News spokesperson declined to comment on potential personnel moves.
