CBS News unveiled its first major slate of “60 Minutes” hires under Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss on Tuesday, tapping New York Times columnist Ross Douthat as the network presses ahead with its overhaul of the iconic news magazine.
Executive producer Nick Bilton announced in a memo that Douthat will join the program as a correspondent, while bestselling author and filmmaker Sebastian Junger, former VICE News and CNN journalist Gianna Toboni, and British broadcaster Trevor Phillips will serve as contributors. Former CBS Evening News anchor Norah O’Donnell, who has contributed to “60 Minutes” for more than a decade, has also been elevated to full correspondent.
“An exceptional lineup of journalists will be joining “60 Minutes”, carrying on its tradition of fearless, independent and impartial reporting,” Bilton wrote. “I can’t wait for them to get started.”
The hires are the first major on-air additions since Weiss took control of CBS News and began restructuring “60 Minutes” after several longtime correspondents and senior producers departed earlier this year.
Douthat joined the Times in 2009 and has become one of the paper’s best-known conservative opinion writers. Bilton praised him as “one of the preeminent public intellectuals in America today, a thinker of uncommon rigor and a journalist of deep empathy.”
Bilton also announced that Junger, the author of “The Perfect Storm” and co-director of the Oscar-nominated Afghanistan war documentary “Restrepo,” will join the program as a contributor
Toboni, whose reporting has included investigations into ISIS, Mexican cartels, mass shootings, and the death penalty, will also join as a contributor, while Phillips — recently hired as CBS News’ senior global affairs correspondent — will contribute to 60 Minutes from London.
Bilton praised the whole group as “entrepreneurial journalists who understand how to reach modern audiences.”
Earlier this year, Weiss removed longtime executive producer Tanya Simon and several senior producers before dismissing veteran correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi, Cecilia Vega, and Scott Pelley. Anderson Cooper later departed the program voluntarily.
The personnel changes followed years of criticism that “60 Minutes” had abandoned its reputation for impartial journalism, including backlash over its heavily edited 2024 interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris, which ultimately contributed to CBS parent company Paramount settling President Donald Trump’s lawsuit for $16 million.
Since taking over, Weiss has pledged to restore trust in the network while broadening the program’s appeal. Bilton, a former technology journalist and author who was tapped to lead “60 Minutes,” has likewise promised to modernize the nearly six-decade-old broadcast without sacrificing its journalistic standards.
“My responsibility is not just technological transformation,” Bilton previously told staff. “It is also our trust with the public. Above all, that means a commitment to fairness—in story selection, in the edit room, and in the broadcast.”
Season 59 of “60 Minutes” is scheduled to premiere September 13.
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