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“60 Minutes” executive producer Tanya Simon is exiting CBS News as editor-in-chief Bari Weiss installs former New York Times columnist and filmmaker Nick Bilton to run the iconic newsmagazine program, according to a report Thursday.
The New York Times reported that Bilton — a tech journalist and documentarian with no traditional broadcast news background — will replace Simon as only the fifth executive producer in the nearly 60-year history of “60 Minutes.”
Simon confirmed her departure in a memo to staff exclusively obtained by The Post.
“As Season 58 comes to a close, I am writing to share some news,” Simon wrote. “My time as Executive Producer of 60 Minutes and at CBS News is coming to an end.”
“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,” she added.
Simon, who took over the prestigious program last year after longtime executive producer Bill Owens exited the network, praised staff for preserving the show’s tradition of hard-hitting journalism.
“60 Minutes has always been more than just a broadcast: it is an institution built on independence, grit, and rigorous search for the truth,” Simon wrote. “That is work we did together — and with ratings up 9% over last year no less.”
Bilton told the Times that “60 Minutes” was “the most important news brand in American life” and dismissed the recent internal uproar surrounding the program as “just noise.”
The shakeup follows Weiss’s controversial interventions in several high-profile segments, including a “60 Minutes” report on El Salvador’s notorious CECOT prison.
English (US)