Taylor Hill/WireImage; Frazer Harrison/WireImage; Marla Aufmuth/Getty Images for Texas Conference for Women
- "60 Minutes" lost another correspondent on Tuesday night.
- CBS News fired longtime reporter Scott Pelley after comments he made about the network's leadership.
- Here's which correspondents are still with "60 Minutes," and who's left recently.
Top CBS News editor Bari Weiss is making her mark on "60 Minutes."
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CBS News has dropped three correspondents in the last week. Those departing correspondents have each described clashes or deep disagreements with CBS News leadership about the network's direction.
"The collapse of values at the top has become untenable," fired correspondent Scott Pelley said in a statement Tuesday. "The leadership of 60 Minutes is no longer recognizable. The principles I hold dear are gone, and so I must leave as well."
Longtime contributor Anderson Cooper recently stepped down as well. CBS also let go of "60 Minutes" executive producer Tanya Simon and executive editor Draggan Mihailovich last week.
Weiss was brought in by Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison with a mandate to transform the legacy media institution for the digital age.
"Our strategy until now has been to cling to the audience that remains on broadcast television. I'm here to tell you that if we stick to that strategy, we're toast," Weiss told employees earlier this year.
Weiss has shaken up many corners of CBS News and laid off dozens of employees.
"It's no secret that the news business is changing radically, and that we need to change along with it," Weiss and network president Tom Cibrowski said in a memo about the layoffs in March.
Weiss' critics say some of her changes are designed to make CBS News, and "60 Minutes" in particular, more palatable to President Donald Trump. Weiss has denied that her actions have been politically motivated.
Weiss didn't have a TV news background before taking the helm at CBS News. She worked as an opinion editor at The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal and founded The Free Press, a news and opinion site with an anti-establishment spirit.
Here are the full-time correspondents for "60 Minutes" who are still at CBS News, sorted by length of tenure, and those who've recently departed.
This list doesn't include part-time contributors, like Norah O'Donnell, or include Major Garrett, who recently interviewed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Lesley Stahl (since 1991)James Devaney/GC Images
Stahl, 84, has racked up accolades in her five decades at CBS News, including 13 Emmys and the Edward R. Murrow Award.
She's interviewed world leaders like Donald Trump, former UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, and former Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, plus business leaders like Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg.
Stahl has historically focused on politics, investigations, and foreign reporting.
Bill Whitaker (since 2014)Michele Crowe/CBS via Getty Images
Whitaker joined CBS News in 1984 and has been with "60 Minutes" for over a decade. In that span, he's won Emmys and a Peabody Award.
He's covered major domestic and foreign stories, from the war in Ukraine to the US opioid crisis.
Jon Wertheim (since 2017)John Lamparski/Getty Images
Wertheim has covered a range of topics in his nearly 10 years at "60 Minutes," with a focus on sports, culture, and the Middle East.
He's done reporting on how countries like Saudi Arabia are investing in entertainment, a practice that critics call "sportswashing."
Anderson Cooper (left in mid-May)Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Warner Bros. Discovery
Cooper decided to leave his role at "60 Minutes" in February after 20 years, saying he wanted to spend more time with his family. The veteran newscaster will continue to host "Anderson Cooper 360°" on CNN, which he's done for the last 25 years.
"Being a correspondent at 60 Minutes has been one of the great honors of my career," Cooper said in a statement at the time.
A CBS spokesperson told Business Insider in February that the network was "grateful to him for dedicating so much of his life to this broadcast, and understand the importance of spending more time with family," adding that "60 Minutes will be here if he ever wants to return."
Cooper focused his reporting on major news events, including the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sharyn Alfonsi (contract not renewed in late May)Marla Aufmuth/Getty Images for Texas Conference for Women
Alfonsi left "60 Minutes" last week after more than a decade, in what she said was "not a routine corporate transition."
"It was a deliberate choice to penalize a journalist for refusing to sanitize factually accurate reporting, and it sends a chilling message to the entire newsroom," Alfonsi said in an exit memo, which was obtained by Business Insider.
In her memo, Alfonsi cited "an intense editorial dispute" with Weiss about a segment spotlighting the Trump administration's migrant deportation tactics, specifically with the CECOT prison in El Salvador. Weiss held Alfonsi's story, seeking additional commentary from the Trump administration, though it later aired with minimal changes.
"Repeated attempts by my representation to establish a path forward were met with absolute silence from network executives," Alfonsi wrote in the memo.
Alfonsi covered war in the Middle East, including Gaza, and the US withdrawal from Afghanistan under President Joe Biden.
Cecilia Vega (fired in late May)Taylor Hill/WireImage
Vega said in an exit memo that her departure from "60 Minutes" last week was due to "censorship, both imposed and self-driven."
"I have 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 wrote.
Vega said that she and her colleagues had "experienced efforts to insert political bias into our stories" from leaders at CBS News, a characterization that the network denies.
CBS News brought on Vega in 2023, where she often covered US politics and immigration.
Scott Pelley (fired in early June)Frazer Harrison/WireImage
Pelley made headlines for vocally challenging Nick Bilton, the new executive producer at "60 Minutes," and calling out Weiss.
The veteran "60 Minutes" correspondent, who'd been with CBS for over three decades, reportedly said that Weiss was "murdering" "60 Minutes."
Bilton fired Pelley on Tuesday night, saying that the correspondent's "antipathy to the future of the show has come through loud and clear."
"Despite yesterday's misconduct, I had hoped that in sitting down with you today we could find a path forward together," Bilton wrote to Pelley. "You made clear that you are not interested in such a path."
Pelley said in a statement after his dismissal that CBS leaders had directed him to "inject falsehoods and bias into a politically sensitive story."
Weiss told staffers in a Wednesday morning meeting that CBS News "had to part ways" with Pelley after his comments earlier in the week.
"Despite our attempts to engage with Scott Pelley and to find a way back, unfortunately, we weren't able to do so, and so we had to part ways. We did not want that to happen, but that's the path that he chose," Weiss said on the call.
Pelley disputed that characterization in a statement to The New York Times, saying, "Bari Weiss knows what she said is not true."
"In the meeting on Tuesday, in which I was effectively fired, there was no effort of any kind to 'find a way back,' as Weiss said in the editorial meeting," Pelley said in his statement. "At no point did anyone in the Tuesday meeting suggest that there could be steps taken by either side that would lead to a resolution."
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