60 Minutes Veteran Overlooked for Exclusive Interview with Benjamin Netanyahu: What Happened?

Veteran journalist Lesley Stahl of “60 Minutes” is reportedly contemplating her role at CBS News following her exclusion from a significant interview with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. This unexpected turn of events has led to internal tensions within the esteemed news program.

Sources indicate that Stahl, who is 84, was taken by surprise when Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss bypassed her for the high-profile interview. Instead, Major Garrett, CBS News’s Chief Washington Correspondent, conducted the discussion with Netanyahu. This decision, reported by Status, has stirred unrest among the show’s staff.

The team at the newsmagazine expressed frustration, feeling that Weiss, who is 42, had undermined Stahl by orchestrating the interview herself. Stahl had reportedly been working for months to secure this conversation with Netanyahu. Her exclusion in favor of Garrett has left many at “60 Minutes” dissatisfied, as noted by Status.

This isn’t the first time Weiss has made such a decision, having previously assigned Garrett to interview Pete Hegseth in March. That move also caused discontent among the staff, prompting intervention from Executive Producer Tanya Simon.

In the latest instance, Simon reportedly showed reluctance to replace Stahl with an external figure, reflecting the internal resistance to Weiss’s approach. The situation continues to evolve as the dynamics within “60 Minutes” are closely watched.

The network reportedly considered another program to carry the interview instead. 

Weiss ultimately went with Garrett, however, and Stahl is now under the impression her boss ‘went behind her back,’ said sources. 

The latter is now weighing whether to return to the show next season, according to the report. The final episode of 60 Minutes’ 58th season airs on Sunday. Stahl has been a correspondent there for 34 years.

Longtime 60 Minutes star Lesley Stahl, 84, is furious after being passed over for a high-profile interview that aired on the program Sunday

CBS News Chief Washington Correspondent Major Garrett ultimately oversaw the interview

Moreover, her contract expires this year, Status reported.

A CBS News spokesperson said it was not strange for Weiss to elect for an outside party for the high-profile interview. 

‘It’s the editor in chief’s job to make decisions about bookings and interviews,’ they said.

‘Major is a world-class journalist and did a tough, fair, and newsmaking interview.’

Five people familiar with the matter spoke to Status for the report.

The saga comes following years of 60 Minutes team enjoying a large degree of autonomy, with program execs usually making such calls. 

CBS is in the midst of an ongoing overhaul from Weiss, who took the reins in October. 

Weiss was tapped to head CBS News by a then-new Paramount CEO David Ellison. 

Stahl was one of several correspondents to demand the company promptly name their pick for the show’s next executive producer a few months before, after the exit of longtime lead Bill Owens in April of last year, Status reported at the time.

CBS News Editor-in-chief Bari Weiss made the call, five people familiar with the matter told Status

Stahl’s contract expires this week. She was one of several correspondents to pen a letter demanding CBS name the show’s next EP after the exit of Bill Owens last year. Sharyn Alfonsi, Jon Wertheim, Bill Whitaker, Scott Pelley, Cecilia Vega and Anderson Cooper signed as well

Owens – as well as former CBS News CEO Wendy McMahon – left in protest of Paramount’s then-ongoing bid to settle a suit from Donald Trump. The lawsuit surrounded an October 60 Minutes interview the president said was ‘deceptively edited.’

After the suit was settled, a long-in-limbo merger between Paramount and Ellison’s Skydance quickly received federal approval. 

Ellison, 43, assumed the top spot at the newly formed company in process. His father, billionaire Larry Ellison, has close ties to Donald Trump.

The younger Ellison quickly hired Weiss and paid her $150 million for the publication she created, The Free Press, as his first moves.

Other actions from Weiss have frustrated staff, including her last-minute decision to shelve a segment on the ‘brutal and tortuous conditions’ at a prison in El Salvador where the US notoriously deported illegal immigrants in December.

Weiss is a supporter of the war in Iran and has also accused the media at large of fostering an anti-Israel bias.

Former Paramount heiress Shari Redstone, the daughter of late Viacom billionaire Sumner Redstone, previously told New York Times in August that she was put off by a then-recent 60 Minutes episode about the Israel-Hamas conflict she felt was too slanted in favor of the Palestinian cause. 

‘Once that happened, I wanted out. I wanted to support Israel, and address issues around antisemitism and racism.’ 

Shortly after, Ellison contacted her asking if she’d sell to Skydance, the production company he’d set up with help from his father.

Redstone closed the sale for $8billion in August. She took home an estimated $2.8billion.