Amid recent exits, including Cecilia Vega, CBS has appointed tech journalist Nick Bilton to lead 60 Minutes. Bilton is a former New York Times columnist and Vanity Fair special correspondent. His coverage has included the rise of social media, AI ethics, and culture-related issues online.
CBS gets Nick Bilton on board for 60 Minutes amid firings
As 60 Minutes navigates recent firings, CBS is bringing tech journalist Nick Bilton aboard to take the helm of the long-running broadcast. On Thursday, May 28, CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss named Bilton executive producer of 60 Minutes.
“Nick is one of the most entrepreneurial journalists of our time and the perfect leader for one of the most entrepreneurial news brands of all time,” Weiss announced Thursday. “We have huge ambition for 60 Minutes to reach new heights through deep, revelatory journalism that breaks news, exposes wrongdoing, widens public understanding, and forces accountability from every institution and every center of power. Nick shares this mission and will bring his deep investigative experience and understanding of the technological moment we’re in to 60 Minutes so that its important journalism comes to life for all audiences.”
In a memo to staffers, Bilton wrote, “I’m here to lead this show, not preserve it under glass. That means honoring what works and being honest about what doesn’t.” Bari Weiss, who founded The Free Press, joined CBS last October. She had signaled for months that 60 Minutes would see major changes under Paramount CEO David Ellison’s new ownership. The Hollywood Reporter reported in February that Weiss planned to revamp 60 Minutes.
The network overhauled the 57-year-old news program after Memorial Day, terminating executive producer Tanya Simon and correspondents Cecilia Vega and Sharyn Alfonsi. Several senior producers were also dismissed.
Simon, a 25-year CBS News veteran, addressed the 60 Minutes staff in a note Thursday. It read that her “time as Executive Producer of 60 Minutes and at CBS News is coming to an end.” Meanwhile, Cecilia Vega was fired from 60 Minutes on May 28. The network’s first Latina correspondent had a contract through next March.
Originally written by Sibanee Gogoi on Mandatory.
