Analysis: Why CBS News believes ‘60 Minutes’ needs a big disruption

 

People walk by the CBS Broadcast Center in Manhattan on March 20, 2026, in New York City.

Spencer Platt/Getty Images

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CBS News is taking a huge risk by overhauling “60 Minutes.” Why blow up a profitable, prestigious newsmagazine when there is so much else at CBS that needs fixing?

Bari Weiss and her surprising pick for “60 Minutes” executive producer, Nick Bilton, have multiple answers to that question.

The short version, expressed by seven sources on condition of anonymity, and also relayed more diplomatically in Weiss and Bilton’s memos to staff, is that CBS management believes “60 Minutes” is an archaic institution that’s in urgent need of reinvention.

What “60 Minutes” defenders see as its strengths, they see as potential shortcomings, and they’re determined to rebuild the newsmagazine for a digital and vertical video age.