60 Minutes has found its first new slate of correspondents and contributors.
The CBS newsmagazine has hired New York Times columnist Ross Douthat, The Perfect Storm author Sebastian Junger, and Vice News veteran Gianna Toboni to join its ranks, alongside Norah O’Donnell, who will have more of a presence on the show moving forward after serving as a contributor for years.
Douthat will be a correspondent, with Junger and Toboni serving as contributors. Trevor Phillips, who joined CBS News as senior global affairs correspondent, will also be a contributor.
They join existing correspondents Bill Whitaker, Lesley Stahl, and Jon Wertheim.
New 60 Minutes executive producer Nick Bilton announced the hires in a memo Tuesday.
The new correspondents are part of a major overhaul of the venerable Sunday evening show, which is now being overseen by Bilton, who was hired by CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss in May in a restructuring that saw the show’s former EP ousted alongside correspondents Cecila Vega and Sharyn Alfonsi. Bilton told THR at the time that he was interested in pursuing more “gonzo journalism” and that he had his eyes set on new correspondents who are “specialists in different fields, and they are all going to be the best in their field, the best in the business, they are incredible storytellers, incredible investigators, fearless,” he said.
Of course, soon after he joined, the show nearly imploded, with veteran correspondent Scott Pelley ripping Bilton and Weiss in a staff meeting, after which he was fired. The remaining correspondents very nearly quit, before agreeing to stay on.
“We feared that our returning might be construed as an endorsement of the existing power structure. That is simply, categorically not the case,” they wrote of their decision. “Here’s why we’re are staying: We don’t want to see 60 Minutes die.”
Now the show is in something of a mad dash to get ready for the fall season, with new episodes typically debuting in September.
