The two remaining star correspondents on "60 Minutes" who signed new contracts are now furious at CBS News head Bari Weiss.
According to a report from Oliver Darcy at media watchdog Status, there is a sense of panic among staffers at the venerable Sunday night newsmagazine as a new season looms and management is still looking to replace the stars and producers of the show who were fired by Weiss.
The report notes that the turmoil at the network has continued under Weiss's handpicked Executive Producer Nick Bilton, who recently met with the White House comms team, but has yet to hold a meeting with the staff after 60 days, despite promising to sit down with them within 30 days to explain his "vision."
The fall season is approaching with alarming speed, and "60 Minutes" faces a production crisis, the report notes. Bilton needs to build an entire arsenal of stories from scratch — a task always challenging under normal circumstances but appearing nearly impossible given the current chaos.
As Darcy explained, typically "60 Minutes" producers "bank" dozens of completed pieces over the summer for fall deployment. But the program is understaffed after the Weiss-led talent purge of multiple stars and producers.
Insiders told Status that Bilton is "deeply underwater," due to his lack of experience, and is drowning in the impossible task Weiss has assigned him.
Behind the scenes, the remaining talent is making it known that the situation is untenable, with star correspondents Lesley Stahl and Bill Whitaker furious at Weiss's "meddling" despite assurances when signing new contracts that now prevent them from escaping her control.
As reported before, Weiss has inserted herself into the newsroom in unprecedented ways, second-guessing story choices, interfering with correspondent autonomy, and steamrolling her more knowledgeable critics while insisting she is simply doing her job, as CBS News continues to flounder in the ratings.
