CBS' '60 minutes' announces new slate of correspondents for upcoming
59th season
[July 29, 2026]
By JOCELYN NOVECK
NEW YORK (AP) — Two months after a major shakeup, CBS’s “60 Minutes” has
hired a lineup of new correspondents and contributors in time for its
59th season, including Ross Douthat, a conservative opinion columnist at
The New York Times, and Norah O'Donnell, former anchor of “CBS Evening
News.”
The show's new executive producer, Nick Bilton, announced the news in a
staff memo Tuesday, shared on X. Joining Douthat and O'Donnell will be
author Sebastian Junger, Trevor Phillips and Gianna Toboni. All will be
contributors to the show.
The new journalists join current correspondents Lesley Stahl, Jon
Wertheim and Bill Whitaker. Their hirings come two months after a
shakeup at the storied program, led by the network's new
editor-in-chief, Bari Weiss.
Weiss installed Bilton, who has little substantive broadcast news
experience, as executive producer, replacing Tanya Simon, who was let go
after a 30-plus year tenure with the show. Also let go were
correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega — and soon after, Scott
Pelley, after a tense confrontation with his bosses over the changes.
In addition to the three dismissed, Anderson Cooper — whose primary job
is at CNN — said earlier this year he was leaving of his own accord
after two decades.
CBS News leaders enthused about the hires
Weiss and Tom Cibrowski, the CBS News president, praised the new hires
in an internal memo. “We couldn’t be more excited about this news,” the
two said, welcoming the new additions. “Onward!”
Bilton called Douthat “one of the preeminent public intellectuals in
America today, a thinker of uncommon rigor and a journalist of deep
empathy.” The columnist has spent nearly two decades at the Times and is
an author of numerous books.
The producer called O’Donnell “a powerhouse.”
“You’ve seen her all over the network. She’s launched a new podcast. And
you’ll see much more of her in our halls because Norah will be a
correspondent on 60 Minutes."
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The CBS logo is displayed at the entrance to its headquarters, in
New York Dec. 6, 2018. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)
 Bilton praised Junger for his
nonfiction work “The Perfect Storm,” about a catastrophic 1991
storm. The book “landed with an electric charge in the world of
reported nonfiction, defining an intense and intimate form of
storytelling and establishing Sebastian as a generational talent,”
Bilton said.
Toboni joins“60 Minutes” as a contributor and CBS News as a national
correspondent. Previously a senior correspondent with VICE News and
VICE on HBO, she comes to the program from CNN.
Calling her a journalist of “extraordinary range,” Bilton noted that
Toboni has interviewed members of ISIS, investigated cartel violence
in Mexico and has written a book on the death penalty.
Also serving as contributor will be Trevor Phillips, announced last
month as the news division's senior global affairs correspondent.
Based in London, he is “one of the most respected and trusted voices
in the United Kingdom for his ability to ask the toughest questions
and hold anyone in power to account,” Bilton wrote in his memo.
‘60 Minutes’ has faced upheaval for a while
Turmoil had raged at “60 Minutes” for more than a year before the
May shakeup. Much of it came after President Donald Trump sued the
show over its editing of a 2024 interview with then-Democratic
presidential candidate Kamala Harris.
That became part of a broader shakeup at CBS News after Weiss was
named to the new role of editor-in-chief by parent company Paramount
late last year following David Ellison’s arrival as the network’s
corporate leader.
___
Jocelyn Noveck covers the intersection of media and entertainment
for The Associated Press.
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