Lesley Stahl and Colleagues Decide to Stay at ’60 Minutes’

Lesley Stahl, along with fellow correspondents Bill Whitaker and Jon Wertheim, announced on Friday their decision to stay with the ’60 Minutes’ program amidst recent turmoil. This decision came after a period of both grieving and frustration.

The correspondents expressed their determination to remain in an email to the show’s staff, stating their intention to “stay and fight” to protect the prestigious reputation of the country’s leading news program. They wrote, “We don’t want to see ‘60 Minutes’ die.”

The controversy began with CBS News editor in chief Bari Weiss deciding to dismiss Tanya Simon, the show’s executive producer, and other significant producers and correspondents. The correspondents described these actions as “heartbreaking” and stated that they would leave if the program lost its editorial independence.

Weiss appointed Nick Bilton, a tech journalist and filmmaker without broadcast news experience, to lead the program. This move left the ’60 Minutes’ newsroom in shock. Longtime correspondent Scott Pelley criticized Bilton and accused Weiss of “murdering” the show; he was subsequently fired.

Since then, Bilton has endeavored to assure Stahl, Whitaker, and Wertheim about maintaining the show’s journalistic standards. He met with Stahl and promised to preserve the show’s rigor. He also assured the staff via email that ’60 Minutes’ would maintain its editorial independence from its parent company, which tech scion David Ellison controls, who appointed Weiss.

In an interview with The New York Times, Stahl mentioned immense communication across continents to make this decision. Wertheim is currently in Paris covering the French Open, which required coordination across multiple time zones.