In a surprising turn of events, former 60 Minutes correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi found herself blindsided by her abrupt dismissal from CBS News. Sources have revealed that neither Alfonsi nor her team anticipated the network’s decision to terminate her contract.
Reports from Status indicate that the deadline for her contract renewal quietly passed without any communication from the network, leaving the journalist unaware of her impending departure.
Her dismissal was officially communicated on Thursday morning, just hours after The New York Times disclosed the details surrounding her exit.
Alfonsi’s departure was not the only shake-up at 60 Minutes. The same day also saw the exits of executive editor Draggan Mihailovich and correspondent Cecilia Vega, according to a report from Variety. This series of high-profile departures marks a significant shift within the renowned news program.
Also caught up in the day’s exits were 60 Minutes’ executive editor, Draggan Mihailovich, and correspondent Cecilia Vega, Variety reported.
CBS also announced a new executive producer for the program, former New York Times tech columnist Nick Bilton.
He replaces longtime producer Tanya Simon, who is out at CBS News and 60 Minutes.
Correspondents Lesley Stahl, Anderson Cooper, Vega, and Alfonsi were all part of a group who demanded that CBS name the show’s next executive producer immediately after longtime lead Bill Owens’s exit in April of last year.
Outgoing 60 Minutes correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi was ‘left in the dark’ ahead of her unceremonious CBS News firing on Thursday morning, according to sources
Former 60 Minutes executive producer Tanya Simon with then-correspondents Lesley Stahl, Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega. Simon and Vega were booted off the program on Thursday as well
Simon temporarily received the top job after some heavy backing from the journalists.
She addressed her exit in an internal memo to staff: ‘While leadership has decided it is time for a new chapter – I want to be unequivocally clear about one thing: it has been an immense privilege to lead this broadcast.’
Simon is the daughter of legendary 60 Minutes correspondent Bob Simon and worked for the program for 26 years.
Vega – a former ABC News chief White House correspondent – joined in 2023.
Alfonsi joined CBS in 2011 made her TV debut on 60 Minutes in 2015.
She told the Times on Wednesday that she believed the call not to renew was the result of a clash she had with CBS brass after their decision to pull one of her segments in December.
The story was set to speak on conditions at Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT), a prison in El Salvador where the US has deported suspected illegal immigrants.
CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss argued that Alfonsi did not get enough administration officials on the record for the ‘important piece.’
Alfonsi immediately tore into the decision in an internal email at the time, accusing her bosses of political censorship.
CBS brass like editor Bari Weiss saw internal emails sent out by Alfonsi to the 60 Minutes team in December as ‘insubordinate’. Weiss is currently administering an overhaul at the network, after her appointment in October
Alfonsi previously slammed Weiss’s decision to spike a story about Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT) in El Salvador in December as ‘political’. The prison contained several inmates from the US deported as suspected illegal immigrants
Aflonsi reiterated those claims to the Times Wednesday, as the paper broke the news on her 60 Minutes exit.
Alfonsi said her agent’s inquiries to the network about her 60 Minutes future had been ‘met with absolute silence.’
She added in a subsequent statement: ‘The message could not be clearer: my time at 60 Minutes is apparently over.’
‘In the coming days, network leadership may attempt to hide behind corporate euphemisms like “modernization” and “restructuring” to explain away my departure. Don’t be misled,’ she wrote.
‘This was not a routine corporate transition; it was a deliberate choice.’
Alfonsi also praised ‘fearless, independent reporting’ seen from 60 Minutes in the past.
‘Today, CBS management is abandoning that mission, choosing access journalism over accountability and protecting power rather than scrutinizing it,’ she wrote, just hours before Weiss’s shakeup.
‘Journalists willing to challenge authority are being pushed aside in favor of those who will not.’
Fellow 60 Minutes long-timer Anderson Cooper recently left the program after 20 years as a correspondent due to reported frustrations with Weiss, who was appointed by Paramount in October
And veteran broadcaster Lesley Stahl is also reportedly reassessing her future at CBS News altogether, after being passed over for the show’s recent sit-down with Benjamin Netanyahu – a sit-down arranged by Weiss personally
The Daily Mail approached CBS and Paramount for comment.
CBS executives told the Times on Wednesday that they saw the drafting of an internal memo by Alfonsi in December as ‘insubordinate’, several C-suiters at the Eye Network told the Times.
The email complained about Weiss’s call to hold the story, with Aflonsi telling the team: ‘If the standard for airing a story becomes “the government must agree to be interviewed,” then the government effectively gains control over the 60 Minutes broadcast.’
‘If this continues, the result will be a broadcast that looks like 60 Minutes but lacks the courage and character to produce journalism that matters,’ Alfonsi also warned.
She urged her colleagues to ‘hold the line.’
In the weeks before her exit Thursday, fellow 60 Minutes long-timer Cooper left the program as well. His exit after 20 years of correspondent duties was also because of Weiss, Status reported.
Veteran 60 Minutes journalist Stahl is also mulling an exit after being passed over for a recent sit-down with Benjamin Netanyahu last month, per Status. The meeting was arranged by Weiss – an outspoken Israel supporter.
The network has since been subject to an overhaul from Weiss, who was appointed by Paramount CEO David Ellison in October.