Sharyn Alfonsi, Cecilia Vega, and Tanya Simon were recently ousted from 60 Minutes as part of a major shakeup at CBS News under Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss.
This overhaul, announced around May 28, 2026, also included the departure of senior executive producer Draggan Mihailovich. CBS appointed outsider Nick Bilton (a former New York Times tech journalist, Vanity Fair columnist, author, and filmmaker with no prior broadcast news experience) as the new executive producer for the show’s 59th season starting in fall 2026.
The moves reflect efforts to address declining viewership (from peaks over 20 million in earlier decades to around 6-8 million recently), adapt to changing media consumption, and respond to questions about editorial independence amid corporate and political pressures.
Sharyn Elizabeth Alfonsi (born June 3, 1972) is a veteran investigative journalist with nearly 20 years at CBS News, including more than a decade as a 60 Minutes correspondent (starting in 2015). She grew up near Washington, D.C., in an Italian-American family, attended high school in McLean, Virginia, and graduated from the University of Mississippi with a B.S. in political science and journalism.
Her career began in local news (e.g., reporting, weather, and editing in Arkansas), moved to CBS (starting 2004 as a New York correspondent), then ABC, before returning to CBS. At 60 Minutes, she focused on investigative pieces, profiles, war zone reporting (e.g., Afghanistan withdrawal), and stories like the Jeffrey Epstein investigation and Parkland survivors (earning multiple Emmys, a duPont-Columbia Award, and others).
Her exit stemmed from a public feud with Bari Weiss over a December 2025 segment on Venezuelan migrants deported to El Salvador’s CECOT prison. The story was delayed (reportedly for an on-camera Trump admin interview), which Alfonsi criticized as political interference and corporate meddling. Her 60 Minutes contract expired without renewal; she was formally fired on May 28, 2026, though she remained an at-will CBS employee briefly. She publicly warned of a “chilling message” to the newsroom about lost independence.
Cecilia Marcellina Vega (born January 7, 1977) is an Emmy-winning journalist and the first Latina to serve as ABC’s chief White House correspondent. She joined 60 Minutes as a correspondent in March 2023 after 12 years at ABC News (where she also co-anchored Good Morning America and Saturday World News Tonight). A San Francisco Bay Area native of Mexican and Italian descent, she grew up in a blue-collar family, graduated from American University, and started in print (e.g., San Francisco Chronicle) before local TV (KGO-TV) and national roles.
She covered major stories including elections, the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the U.S.-Mexico border, and global events, while mentoring Hispanic journalists (named National Latina Journalist of the Year in 2024). Her 60 Minutes tenure was shorter; she was fired on May 28, 2026 (with nearly a year left on her contract until 2027). Vega criticized the network for “imposed and self-driven” censorship and expressed fears for the program’s future.
Tanya Simon is a longtime 60 Minutes producer (over 25-30 years) and the first woman to serve as its executive producer (named in 2025 after serving as interim following Bill Owens’ resignation). She is the daughter of legendary 60 Minutes correspondent Bob Simon (who died in 2015). She graduated from Columbia University with a B.A. in comparative literature and began at CBS in 1996 as a researcher for 48 Hours, rising to producer roles and contributing to major stories (e.g., 9/11 with Ed Bradley).
She was ousted today, May 28, 2026, as part of the broader changes. Her departure marked a shift from internal veteran leadership.
60 Minutes remains CBS’s flagship Sunday newsmagazine but is undergoing significant changes in leadership and talent to “modernize” it, expand across platforms/days, and adapt to audience shifts. Core correspondents like Lesley Stahl, Scott Pelley, and Bill Whitaker are expected to continue, with potential additions (e.g., more from CBS like Major Garrett or Norah O’Donnell). Anderson Cooper had already announced his exit.
The shakeup has drawn criticism from some inside the program and journalism circles over perceived threats to independence, while others (e.g., some conservative voices) see it as necessary refreshment. As of late May 2026, the 2025-26 season had just ended, with the new era under Bilton beginning in the fall.
the clock is ticking..
Bill • June 5, 2026
Season 59 is scheduled to premiere Sept. 13, which is not a long way away in TV time. And certainly not in “60 Minutes” time, where complicated and nuanced stories need to be pitched, approved, reported, vetted and put together for air.
Former “60 Minutes” correspondent Steve Kroft: “It seems almost impossible for me to imagine what kind of a show they can put on in September.”
He also said, “I think basically ’60 Minutes,’ as the audience has known it, no longer exists. The firings are too substantial.”
— New York Magazine
What's next amid the turmoil?
Bill • June 4, 2026
“It is very difficult to see how this new leadership is able to usher ‘60 Minutes’ as it has existed in the past into the future. We only have three remaining correspondents there. I know that they currently are deliberating over what they are going to do. It’s very possible that we’re going to arrive at a moment here in a matter of weeks, if not days, where there is no existing talent left at ‘60 Minutes’ and they are going to have to build this back up from scratch.”
— Dylan Byers, MS NOW
Even if some or all of the remaining correspondents return, perhaps the most pressing question for Weiss, Bilton, CBS News as a whole and “60 Minutes” specifically is how audiences will react. The optics are horrible for CBS News. Fans of “60 Minutes” are loyal, dedicated viewers who have a deep attachment to the correspondents on the program.
Fired for cause
Jason Remington • June 5, 2026
Sometimes, employees are fired because they are somehow a threat to management. They are possibly better at the job than a superior, they are smarter than the average bear and management sees them as less likely to submit to control.
Not to say this was the situation with anyone at 60 minutes, but it is a real circumstance and shows that no one is safe from the pink slip.
Pelley was clearly out of control. You can’t get away with what could be seen as insubordination, even a senior network correspondent.
I’m sure Scott Pelley is already in talks with another network.
“The Washington Post last year replaced its very credentialed editorial page editor with a young, inexperienced figure whose views are similar to Weiss’s. The paper also signaled that it wanted to move its opinion pages to the right, resulting in more liberal and even central staffers leaving, myself included. ” Perry Bacon – New Republic https://newrepublic.com/article/211313/scott-pelley-fired-bari-weiss-trashing
And STAY OUT!
Jason Remington • June 3, 2026
Dear Mr. Pelley:
I meant what I said in my letter last week to the 60 Minutes team: joining 60 Minutes is the honor of my career and I am grateful to be working alongside the people who have contributed to the most important television journalism brand this country has ever produced.
While I’m new to 60 Minutes, I’ve devoted my career to investigative journalism and storytelling. I started this job excited to collaborate and to benefit from the wisdom and experience of the 60 Minutes veterans, with you among them. For that reason, one of the first things I did in my new role was call you to talk and invite you to dinner.
It is a profound disappointment that you rejected that overture and chose ambush instead. Yesterday, you hijacked my first meeting with staff to disparage me, my qualifications, and my intentions with remarkable incivility and contempt. I welcome a diversity of viewpoints and respectful debate among the team, but this was nothing of the sort.
Yesterday’s performative display of hostility—enacted in front of the staff instead of in a civil, private conversation—demonstrated that you have no interest in contributing to the future success of the show, or approaching my new tenure with a mind open to collaboration and progress.
I am here to deliver first-in-class news programming, not to make headlines about newsroom drama. I am eager to work alongside those who share this goal. Despite yesterday’s misconduct, I had hoped that in sitting down with you today we could find a path forward together. You made clear that you are not interested in such a path.
Your antipathy to the future of the show has come through loud and clear. And I have heard you.
I therefore write on behalf of CBS News, Inc. (“CBS”) to inform you that your employment with CBS is terminated for cause effective immediately. Enclosed is your formal termination letter.
Sincerely,
Nick Bilton
Executive Producer, 60 Minutes
Scott Pelley FIRED from CBS News
Jason Remington • June 3, 2026
CBS News fired veteran “60 Minutes” correspondent Scott Pelley on Tuesday, a day after he confronted the show’s new executive producer at a heated staff meeting.
“Your antipathy to the future of the show has come through loud and clear. And I have heard you,” “60 Minutes” executive producer Nick Bilton said in a letter addressed to Pelley, a copy of which was obtained by NBC News.
“I therefore write on behalf of CBS News, Inc. to inform you that your employment with CBS is terminated for cause effective immediately,” Bilton added. (NBC)
New '60 Minutes' boss storms out of staff meeting after explosive clash with Scott Pelley --
Jason Remington • June 3, 2026
PELLEY told the NEW YORK POST:
“For my part, new management has instructed me to inject falsehoods and bias into a politically sensitive story,” the 68-year-old Pelley wrote. “I’ve been told to include assertions that are unverified.”
Pelley claimed he repeatedly resisted those efforts.
“To date, in every case, I have managed to ignore these instructions or refuse them,” he said.
“Recently, politicians have been invited to choose correspondents for interviews on the broadcast,” Pelley wrote. “Giving politicians control over 60 Minutes interviews is not how this is done.”
This is Bari Weiss
Jason Remington • June 3, 2026
We’ll just leave this here.
This is BARI WEISS – Editor-in-chief of CBS News
What do you see in this picture?
Former “60 Minutes” chief Bill Owens has weighed in.
Bill • June 2, 2026
Four days after Bari Weiss decapitated the leadership of 60 Minutes, she sent her new executive producer, Nick Bilton, to meet with the remaining staff. What happened will reverberate in journalism for years.
Bill Owens, the former exexutive producer of “60 Minutes,” praised Pelley for speaking out against Weiss and Bilton, noting that Pelley “can smell a fraud from a mile away.”
“He stood up the way I did a year ago and I couldn’t be prouder of him. And I know all of the people at ’60 Minutes’ couldn’t be more proud of him.”
Pelley accused CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss of “murdering ’60 Minutes’” and belittled Bilton’s credentials, prompting Bilton to end the meeting abruptly.
Owens also decried layoffs of staff including “60 Minutes” correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi Cecilia Vega.
“They were fired by people who don’t even know what we do and don’t actually care,” said Owens, who called Weiss “an opinion writer best known for being an ideologue” — the latest in a stream of criticism directed at her from ex-employees.
Owens concluded by defending the culture of “60 Minutes” and criticizing the new direction of CBS News, where Weiss took the helm last fall with a mandate to bring balance to the network.
He described the network and “60 Minutes” as “institutions, not places where partisans and ideologues should be employed.”
“Look, I’m not saying ‘60 Minutes’ is perfect. I’m certainly not. We’ve made mistakes. We’ve always owned up to them,” he added.
“But I can tell you there’s a rigor in how ‘60 Minutes’ approaches every story. That isn’t what this crew is looking to do.”
Pelley Fires Back at CBS Management
Reader Submission • June 1, 2026
Scott Pelley, a veteran 60 Minutes correspondent, called out CBS News management in a heated meeting on Monday morning, attacking the network’s decision on Thursday to fire the show’s executive producer, executive editor, and two fellow correspondents, Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega, as part of a broader overhaul of the show, sources tell the Guardian.
During a meeting of the show’s staff and Nick Bilton, its newly appointed executive producer, along with the CBS News managing editor Charles Forelle, Pelley took direct aim at Bari Weiss, the network’s controversial editor-in-chief.
“She’s murdering 60 Minutes,” Pelley said, according to sources with knowledge of the situation. “She does not love this place. She was brought in to kill it and is doing exactly that.”
Forelle accused Pelley of being rude, and Pelley countered by saying that the network had been rude by the way it treated Tanya Simon, the show’s executive producer who was fired on Thursday.
Bilton conveyed to Pelley that he would not be “intimidated” by his remarks.
60 Minutes staff who were present for the meeting showed strong support for Pelley, giving him a standing ovation, sources said.
A CBS News spokesperson declined comment on the meeting. A source with knowledge of the situation said that overtures have been made to Pelley, who is seen as an important part of the show. (Pelley has also been contacted for comment.)
— The Guardian
The future of 60 Minutes
Bill • May 30, 2026
Weiss chose Nick Bilton, a former New York Times technology columnist and documentary filmmaker who has no real experience in traditional TV news, to head up 60 Minutes, an elite news program with more than 9 million viewers each week.
Bilton warned of upcoming changes: “I’m here to lead this show, not preserve it under glass. That means honoring what works and being honest about what doesn’t. I have a notebook full of ideas. Some are about the show itself. Some are about the next generation of correspondents. Some are about the strange fact that we produce one extraordinary hour for one night a week in a world that consumes content around the clock. I’m excited to share them, and I’m confident you’ll be excited by them, too.”
The obvious question is: How can Bilton, with no real experience in traditional network news, suddenly be responsible for such an iconic brand as “60 Minutes?”
Cecilia Vega ...the day after
Bill • May 29, 2026
Correspondent Cecilia Vega said her contract was not set to expire until March 2027 and that she was fired after she refused to tailor her stories to be politically biased.
”Reporting teams have held back on submitting story pitches about important news topics out of fear of the internal repercussions. Let’s call this what it is: censorship, both imposed and self-driven.
”It is dangerous for the show and dangerous for democracy.
”I held the line and refused to incorporate suggestions that offend the conscience, a phrase I borrow from a colleague who has also fought to keep questionable editorial suggestions away from the facts,” she said, not naming the colleague.
”I know from many conversations with colleagues that many producing teams and correspondents working on the show today have had to fight to maintain editorial independence with regularity.
”I am far from the only 60 Minutes correspondent who has asked herself, “What is my personal red line? How much can I push back before I pay the price?”‘
— New York Times
New Look for 60 ?
Jason Remington • May 29, 2026
Saying it was time for a new approach and a new chapter, CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss has replaced the executive producer of “60 Minutes,” naming outsider Nick Bilton, a longtime technology journalist and documentarian, as the show’s new leader.
Executive producer Tanya Simon will be leaving about a year after being named to the job following 30 years at the venerable Sunday evening program.
In a memo to staff Thursday, Weiss and CBS News President Tom Cibrowski said their goal was “building a show that thrives in the 21st century.”
“That requires a new approach,” —-
Looking ahead...
Bill • May 29, 2026
There seems to be little question that this week will permanently change “60 Minutes.” How so? We won’t know until we actually see what the program looks like in the future.
The pot calls the kettle
Duke Stern • May 28, 2026
Longtime propagandists, Katie Couric and Jim Acosta worry that CBS and CNN will become propaganda arms of the Trump administration. What has MSNBC, CNN and most of the news media been during the Obama and Biden admins? Propaganda outlets for Obama and Biden.