‘60 Minutes’ on-air personalities threaten mutiny if not allowed to handpick new boss

CBS News’ “60 Minutes” could now count “revolt” among its woes as the on-air talent reportedly set certain expectations regarding leadership.

As parent company Paramount continued efforts to complete a merger with Skydance Media and a $20 billion lawsuit with President Donald Trump remained active in court, the correspondents at “60 Minutes” weren’t making a rocky period for CBS News any easier. According to a report from Oliver Darcy, they’d each signed onto a letter calling for interim executive producer Tanya Simon to take on the role permanently.

Writing in his Status newsletter, Darcy detailed, “Last month, all seven ’60 Minutes’ correspondents moved to take some collective action in an effort to safeguard the program that they so deeply care about. Quietly, the group of famed journalists–Lesley Stahl, Scott Pelley, Bill Whitaker, Anderson Cooper, Sharyn Alfonsi, Jon Wertheim, and Cecilia Vega–decided amongst themselves to write a letter to the powers that be at CBS News’ parent company, Paramount Global.”

“According to five people familiar with the matter,” he continued, “the missive addressed to Paramount co-chief executive George Cheeks made a simple request: name Tanya Simon executive producer of ’60 Minutes.’”

Simon, daughter of late “60 Minutes” correspondent Bob Simon, took over as interim executive producer in April after Bill Owens abruptly resigned when he’d claimed “the company is done with me” as higher ups came down on the programming that had led to Trump’s lawsuit regarding the editing of a pre-election interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris.

Owens’ resignation had been followed by CBS News CEO Wendy McMahon’s departure in May when she expressed, “It’s become clear that the company and I do not agree on the path forward.”

As turmoil at the network continued, a staffer told Status of Simon, who’d started as an associate producer in 1999, “The next E.P. has to be Tanya. There will be a revolt if it’s not her.”

While a spokesperson for Paramount had declined to offer comment to the New York Post and a representative of the company’s chair, Shari Redstone, turned down the opportunity for a statement as well, the newspaper had reported that the decision on who would lead “60 Minutes” remained up to her. As it happened, she was said to be opposed to the coverage the program had been offering with regard to the president and Israel’s counteroffensive against Gaza.

Following the report of the expectations of the pampered pundits, who’d continued to take jabs at the administration both on and off the air, reactions on social media hardly sided with the correspondents’ wishes to pick their own boss, and instead made the argument that there remained plenty of journalists who’d love the opportunity to work under a new producer after the current crew learned the meaning of “FAFO.”

How fast can CBS fire these correspondents?

— Moderate to Severe (@Mod2Severe) June 27, 2025

Fire every one of them and start fresh. Their faces and views are outdated.

— justathreeringcircus (@ezroll234) June 27, 2025

This smacks of the “revolts” at the LA Times and WaPo. How’d those work out?

— The Real Maltboy (@TheRealMaltboy) June 27, 2025

Oh noes. Mass resignations would give Paramount what it wants – the ability to make the show less partisan. Whatever will it do?

— matt dooley (@mdooley) June 27, 2025

Uhhhh… who cares? Cancel the whole show and not many will even realize it.

— Me (@wv_tweets) June 27, 2025

So do the “revolt”.

Others will happily take their place.

No one *owns* their job. No one is entitled to keep a job either.

FAFO ‍

— (@KristineAz) June 27, 2025

Staff Writer

Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn’t researching current events and their impacts, you’ll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.

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