Anderson Cooper is poised to exit CBS News‘ “60 Minutes” after nearly 20 years of contributing to the program, according to a person familiar with his thinking, the latest blow to the revered Sunday-night newsmagazine after it has been undermined repeatedly by management at Paramount Skydance and its predecessor company.
CBS News was unable to make executives available for immediate comment. Cooper was said to be in negotiations with CBS about a renewal in recent weeks, but opted to put more of his focus on activities at CNN. In addition to his long-running 8 p.m. program at the Warner Bros. Discovery-backed network, Cooper also hosts a podcast centered around discussions of grief that has become increasingly popular, and hosts a Sunday longform programed called “The Whole Story.”
Breaker, a newsletter centered on the media industry, previously reported Cooper’s intention to leave.
His departure would mark a new blow to CBS News under the tenure of its editor in chief, Bari Weiss. Since arriving at CBS News last year, installed at the unit’s news leader after Paramount Skydance acquired her conservative opinion site, The Free Press, for a reported $150 million, Weiss has worked to overhaul the operation — but has also made a number of gaffes. One of those was a decision to delay a “60 Minutes” report by correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi on the violent circumstances of migrants deported by the U.S. — not because it contained errors, but because Weiss wanted a Trump administration official to comment on camera, even though Alfonsi had previously sought a response. Her efforts so far have given rise to a level of mistrust between her management team and the CBS News rank and file.
Weiss has also worked to cut the staff at “CBS Evening News,” and is mulling additional staff reductions with a set of layoffs that could comprise at least 15% of the staff of CBS News overall.
More to come…
variety.com
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