A Complete Timeline of How Bari Weiss and the Ellisons 'Murdered' 60 Minutes
In the last week, three correspondents and the executive producer have been fired. How did we get here?
Over the last week, it’s been nearly impossible to miss the headlines about the history-making drama that has unfolded at CBS News’ 60 Minutes.
It all started last Thursday, when CBS News editor in chief Bari Weiss fired correspondents Cecilia Vega and Sharyn Alfonsi, as well as executive producer Tanya Simon. Weiss replaced Simon by hiring Nick Bilton, a technology journalist and filmmaker with no TV news experience. The event was followed by an explosive Monday morning meeting where Scott Pelley, who had been a correspondent at the show for over 20 years, accused Weiss of “murdering” the program. The following day, Pelley was fired.
60 Minutes has ranked as the most-watched TV news program for 52 consecutive years, and they just finished a season where they averaged 9.1 million viewers per episode, a 9% increase from the year prior—remarkable numbers in an era where everyone is pivoting to streaming.
So what’s behind the seismic shift in leadership and talent? And how did a few ideologues manage to dismantle one of the most trusted, award-winning and iconic news shows in American history? Here’s a timeline of key events to explain how we got here:
Jan. 24, 2024
Billionaire David Ellison makes his first offer to merge Skydance with Paramount, which owns CBS. Ellison, who today is seen as a Trump ally, offers to buy Paramount’s parent company, National Amusements, which is owned by Shari Redstone.
Jul. 7, 2024
Skydance and Paramount agree on the terms of the merger, with Ellison to become chairman and CEO of the company.
Oct. 31, 2024
Trump sues CBS and demands $10 billion in damages for a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris that he claims was edited deceptively to make her look better. While legal experts call the lawsuit “frivolous and dangerous,” Trump’s lawyers call the segment a “partisan and unlawful act of election and voter interference.” Trump had previously called for the network to lose its license from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) over this.
Apr. 7, 2025
Trump and Paramount begin a process of mediation with plans to settle the lawsuit out of court.
Apr. 22, 2025
60 Minutes executive producer Bill Owens resigns, citing a lack of editorial independence in the wake of the lawsuit. Owens would later report that he was discouraged from covering Trump and Gaza and pressured to apologize for the editing of the Harris interview, which he has repeatedly said was a standard edit.
July 2, 2025
Paramount agrees to pay Trump $16 million in a settlement. They also agree to promptly release full transcripts of interviews with presidential candidates in the future. The Associated Press obtains a letter to Paramount leadership from 60 Minutes correspondents, including Bill Whitaker, Lesley Stahl, Scott Pelley, Anderson Cooper, Sharyn Alfonsi, Jon Wertheim and Cecilia Vega, opposing the settlement. In it, they say that “if our parent company caves in to [Trump’s] pressure and lies, it will leave a shameful stain and undermine the First Amendment.”
July 18, 2025
Paramount announces that they are cancelling Stephen Colbert’s Late Show just three days after he publicly called the settlement a “big fat bribe.”
July 22, 2025
Skydance files letters to the FCC promising more capitulations to Trump should the merger be completed. Namely, they promise to install an ombudsman to review complaints of bias at CBS News and to not have any Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives at the company.
July 24, 2025
Trump’s FCC approves the merger. Two weeks letter, the Paramount Skydance merger officially closes, creating the new combined company
Sept. 8, 2025
CBS News appoints Kenneth Weinstein as its new ombudsman. Weinstein is the former head of a Republican think tank with little journalism background.
Oct. 6, 2025
CBS News announces that Bari Weiss will be appointed editor in chief, reporting directly to Ellison. They also acquire Weiss’ The Free Press, a Substack newsletter known for its right-leaning bias, for roughly $150 million.
Oct. 16, 2025
CBS News Standards and Practice chief Claudia Milne announces her resignation following Weiss’ appointment.
Oct. 27, 2025
CBS Evening News anchor and former 60 Minutes correspondent John Dickerson announces he will resign at the end of the year. His co-anchor, Maurice DuBois, would announce in December that he will also resign at the same time
Dec. 20, 2025
Weiss spikes a planned 60 Minutes segment on El Salvadaor’s largest prison, CECOT, a day and a half before it was set to air. Weiss cites concerns about a lack of comment from the Trump administration. Sharyn Alfonsi, the correspondent for the segment, says she had reached out for comment but that the administration did not promptly reply. In an email to 60 Minutes colleagues, Alfonsi wrote that “if the administration’s refusal to participate becomes a valid reason to spike a story, we have effectively handed them a ‘kill switch’ for any reporting they find inconvenient. … We go from an investigative powerhouse to a stenographer for the state.” The segment would eventually air in January.
Jan. 2, 2026
CBS Evening News releases new “Five Simple Principles” guiding the platform, including that they “love America.”
Feb. 16, 2026
Anderson Cooper announces that he will retire from 60 Minutes in May. Notably, he stays with CNN.
May 11, 2026
According to a report by the newsletter Status, Bari Weiss swiped an interview with Benjamin Netanyahu from 60 Minutes correspondent Lesley Stahl to give it to CBS News reporter Major Garrett. The New York Post would later report claims from an insider that Weiss had offered Netanyahu choices for who would interview him.
May 27, 2026
Sharyn Alfonsi tells the New York Times that CBS News declined to renew her contract.
May 28, 2026
In a major shake-up, Weiss fires 60 Minutes executive producer Tanya Simon and replaces her with Nick Bilton, a technology journalist with no experience in TV news. They also fire correspondent Cecilia Vega, who called the move “censorship” in a statement:
Vega added: “In recent months, my producing teams and I have experienced efforts to insert political bias into our stories. 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.”
June 1, 2026
In an explosive staff meeting, 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley criticizes CBS News editor in chief Bari Weiss and new executive producer Nick Bilton after the spate of firings. “She is murdering 60 Minutes ... She was brought in to kill it ... She has no qualifications for her job,” Pelley told Bilton in front of the 60 Minutes staff.
June 1, 2026
At a New York Press Club event, former 60 Minutes executive producer Bill Owens accuses corporate leadership of setting up an “internal spy ring … within the news division” during Trump’s first weeks in office. He added that “it’s a pity because CBS News and 60 Minutes are institutions, not places where partisans and ideologues should be employed,” referencing Weiss’ background as an opinion writer.
June 2, 2026
Bilton fires Pelley. In a letter to Pelley, Bilton writes he was “terminated for cause effective immediately.”
Later that evening, Pelley releases a statement on social media. Notable excerpts include:
For my part, new management has instructed me to inject falsehoods and bias into a politically sensitive story.
The waste is heartbreaking.
The leadership of 60 Minutes is no longer recognizable. The principles I hold dear are gone, and so I must leave as well.
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