NEW YORK (AP) — Two months after a major shakeup, CBS’s “60 Minutes” has hired a lineup of new correspondents and contributors in time for its 59th season, including Ross Douthat, a conservative opinion columnist at The New York Times, and Norah O’Donnell, former anchor of “CBS Evening News.”
The show’s new executive producer, Nick Bilton, announced the news in a staff memo Tuesday, shared on X. Joining Douthat and O’Donnell will be author Sebastian Junger, Trevor Phillips and Gianna Toboni. All will be contributors to the show.
The new journalists join current correspondents Lesley Stahl, Jon Wertheim and Bill Whitaker. Their hirings come two months after a shakeup at the storied program, led by the network’s new editor-in-chief, Bari Weiss.
Weiss installed Bilton, who has little substantive broadcast news experience, as executive producer, replacing Tanya Simon, who was let go after a 30-plus year tenure with the show. Also let go were correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega — and soon after, Scott Pelley, after a tense confrontation with his bosses over the changes.
In addition to the three dismissed, Anderson Cooper — whose primary job is at CNN — said earlier this year he was leaving of his own accord after two decades.
CBS News leaders enthused about the hires
Weiss and Tom Cibrowski, the CBS News president, praised the new hires in an internal memo. “We couldn’t be more excited about this news,” the two said, welcoming the new additions. “Onward!”
Bilton called Douthat “one of the preeminent public intellectuals in America today, a thinker of uncommon rigor and a journalist of deep empathy.” The columnist has spent nearly two decades at the Times and is an author of numerous books.
The producer called O’Donnell “a powerhouse.”
“You’ve seen her all over the network. She’s launched a new podcast. And you’ll see much more of her in our halls because Norah will be a correspondent on 60 Minutes.”
Bilton praised Junger for his nonfiction work “The Perfect Storm,” about a catastrophic 1991 storm. The book “landed with an electric charge in the world of reported nonfiction, defining an intense and intimate form of storytelling and establishing Sebastian as a generational talent,” Bilton said.
Toboni joins“60 Minutes” as a contributor and CBS News as a national correspondent. Previously a senior correspondent with VICE News and VICE on HBO, she comes to the program from CNN.
Calling her a journalist of “extraordinary range,” Bilton noted that Toboni has interviewed members of ISIS, investigated cartel violence in Mexico and has written a book on the death penalty.
Also serving as contributor will be Trevor Phillips, announced last month as the news division’s senior global affairs correspondent. Based in London, he is “one of the most respected and trusted voices in the United Kingdom for his ability to ask the toughest questions and hold anyone in power to account,” Bilton wrote in his memo.
‘60 Minutes’ has faced upheaval for a while
Turmoil had raged at “60 Minutes” for more than a year before the May shakeup. Much of it came after President Donald Trump sued the show over its editing of a 2024 interview with then-Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris.
That became part of a broader shakeup at CBS News after Weiss was named to the new role of editor-in-chief by parent company Paramount late last year following David Ellison’s arrival as the network’s corporate leader.
Jocelyn Noveck covers the intersection of media and entertainment for The Associated Press.
