{"id":859743,"date":"2026-06-11T11:29:24","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T11:29:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/859743\/"},"modified":"2026-06-11T11:29:24","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T11:29:24","slug":"who-will-take-over-as-the-next-60-minutes-correspondents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/859743\/","title":{"rendered":"Who will take over as the next ’60 Minutes’ correspondents?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

While the smoke has begun to clear at \u201c60 Minutes\u201d after three correspondents were fired, CBS News leadership now faces the challenge of finding journalists who can fill their shoes just three months before a new season starts.<\/p>\n

The venerable news magazine was plunged into crisis last week as longtime correspondent Scott Pelley confronted management about the May 28 firings of his colleagues <\/a>Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega<\/a> along with the program\u2019s executive producer Tanya Simon and her second-in-command Draggan Mihailovich. <\/p>\n

Pelley, who also accused CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss of \u201cmurdering\u201d the program,<\/a> was terminated June 2 after a 37-year career at the network. He later gave an interview to The New York Times, accusing Weiss of \u201cputting her thumb on the scale\u201d for the Trump administration when guiding the editorial direction of stories.<\/p>\n

(CBS News denied Pelley\u2019s accusations. But Paramount Chief Executive David Ellison, who has given Weiss a free hand in disrupting the CBS News hierarchy, found the turbulent situation concerning enough to personally reach out to veteran \u201c60 Minutes\u201d correspondent Lesley Stahl, according to The New York Times. He assured Stahl the program would not be subject to political interference, a message she passed along to the staff.)<\/p>\n

\"Lesley <\/p>\n

Lesley Stahl in the 2022 film \u201cMarcel the Shell With Shoes On.\u201d<\/p>\n

(A24)<\/p>\n

The recent personnel bloodbath followed the already announced departure of Anderson Cooper,<\/a> and leaves CBS News with four correspondent roles to fill and a far less experienced executive producer \u2014 former tech journalist Nick Bilton in place to keep the program on track. <\/p>\n

Remaining staffers were encouraged that Maria Gavrilovic, a 19-year veteran of CBS News who worked closely with Pelley, was promoted to senior producer under Bilton. They are also relieved that correspondents Stahl, Jon Wertheim and Bill Whitaker chose to remain with the program rather than leave in solidarity with Pelley.<\/p>\n

\"Norah <\/p>\n

Norah O\u2019Donnell\u2019s interview with Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman in 2021.<\/p>\n

But \u201c60 Minutes\u201d is under pressure to get a new team in place as newcomers will have little time to learn the program\u2019s formula that gives it the comforting consistency its viewers seek. The 13-minute pieces on \u201c60 Minutes\u201d are filmed, written and voice-tracked in a distinctive narrative style that takes time to master, according to people who have gone through the process. <\/p>\n

Weiss has told people internally that \u201c60 Minutes\u201d is the most important platform within the news division and if a major story comes from outside its corps of correspondents, it will find a place on the program.<\/p>\n

Here are the leading contenders for full-time roles based on interviews with several sources at CBS News who were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. A CBS News representative declined comment.<\/p>\n

Holly Williams:<\/b> Williams has been a foreign correspondent working out of Istanbul since 2012. The Australian journalist has reported extensively from war zones in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Gaza and Ukraine. When covering Syria\u2019s civil war from inside the country, she and her team gained access to a prison where alleged ISIS terrorists were being held.<\/p>\n

Williams has contributed reports to \u201c60 Minutes\u201d over the years. Before joining CBS, she was a Beijing-based correspondent for Sky News.<\/p>\n

\"CBS <\/p>\n

CBS News foreign correspondent Holly Williams, <\/p>\n

(Michele Crowe \/ CBS News)<\/p>\n

Tony Dokoupil<\/b>:<\/b> The anchor of \u201cCBS Evening News\u201d is expected to be added as a contributor to \u201c60 Minutes,\u201d a role also given to his predecessors at the newscast including Dan Rather, Katie Couric, Scott Pelley and Norah O\u2019Donnell. <\/p>\n

Dokoupil has done longer interviews and segments for \u201cCBS Sunday Morning\u201d over his 11 years at the network. The additional exposure to a Sunday night audience of more than 9 million who tune into \u201c60 Minutes\u201d could also help boost his nightly newscast. The program has struggled in the ratings since he took over in January when, during his inaugural week, he awkwardly saluted Secretary of State Marco Rubio<\/a> at the close of one episode.<\/p>\n

\""CBS <\/p>\n

\u201cCBS Evening News\u201d anchor Tony Dokoupil and the network\u2019s chief national correspondent Matt Gutman.<\/p>\n

(CBS News)<\/p>\n

Matt Gutman<\/b>:<\/b> The network\u2019s national correspondent was Weiss\u2019 first significant on-air talent hire when he joined from ABC News in December. Gutman has been a frequent presence on big stories and breaking coverage for \u201cCBS Evening News\u201d since he arrived.<\/p>\n

\"Mariana <\/p>\n

Mariana van Zeller at the Ultimate Disney Fan Event at the Anaheim Convention Center in September 2022.<\/p>\n

(Image Group LA \/ Walt Disney Co.)<\/p>\n

Mariana van Zeller<\/b>:<\/b> The multilingual journalist is best known for her documentary series \u201cTrafficked,\u201d which airs on the National Geographic Channel. Van Zeller, 50, has won dozens of awards for the program that has taken her around the world to report on black market activities and human trafficking.<\/p>\n

Norah O\u2019Donnell<\/b>:<\/b> Currently a contributor to \u201c60 Minutes\u201d who already appears on the program\u2019s trademark open, O\u2019Donnell\u2019s role is expected to expand. After CBS settled a $16-million lawsuit filed by President Trump against the program for what he claimed was deceptive editing of an interview, O\u2019Donnell helped the program by stepping up to interview the president twice, subjecting him to tough questions. Her recent joint interview with three U.S. cardinals about Pope Leo XIV and his church\u2019s opposition to the Iran war and Trump\u2019s aggressive immigration crackdown became a major story in April.<\/p>\n

Major Garrett:<\/b> The network\u2019s chief Washington correspondent recently appeared on \u201c60 Minutes\u201d to interview Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The assignment caused internal tension as Stahl was pursuing a sit-down with the leader. But Weiss handled the booking and gave Netanyahu the option to select Garrett. <\/p>\n

While the decision faced some criticism, the program regularly agreed to former President Obama\u2019s preference for now-retired \u201c60 Minutes\u201d correspondent Steve Kroft to interview him even though other journalists on the team wanted a chance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While the smoke has begun to clear at \u201c60 Minutes\u201d after three correspondents were fired, CBS News leadership…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":859744,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,350715,52907,350717,350716,1815,2961,350718,224,5337,1919,938,145220,170416,344369,6566,4369,645,27834],"class_list":["post-859743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-cbs-news-leadership","tag-correspondent","tag-correspondent-role","tag-holly-williams","tag-interview","tag-la","tag-longtime-correspondent-scott-pelley","tag-los-angeles","tag-losangeles","tag-minutes","tag-network","tag-new-team","tag-norah-odonnell","tag-pelley","tag-place","tag-program","tag-story","tag-weis"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116731247866570444","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859743","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=859743"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859743\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/859744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=859743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=859743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=859743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}