Anderson Cooper is poised to leave CBS News’ “60 Minutes” after nearly two decades of service, according to people familiar with his thinking, in the latest blow to the respected Sunday night newsmagazine that has been repeatedly undermined by management at Paramount Skydance and its predecessor companies.
CBS News did not have immediate comment from executives.
“Being a correspondent on 60 Minutes has been one of the highlights of my career,” Cooper said in a statement. “I got to tell great stories and work with some of the best producers, editors and camera crews in the business.” “For nearly 20 years, I’ve been able to balance my work at CNN and CBS, but now that I have young children, I want to spend as much time with them as possible while they want to spend time with me.”
Cooper was said to be in talks to renew his contract with CBS in recent weeks, but has chosen to focus more on his work at CNN. In addition to his long-running 8 p.m. show on the Warner Bros. Discovery-backed network, Cooper also hosts an increasingly popular podcast focused on discussing grief and hosts a long-form Sunday show called “The Whole Story.”
Breaker, a newsletter focused on the media industry, previously reported Cooper’s intention to resign. Cooper signed a contract late last year to extend his stay at CNN.
Cooper’s decision to retire may have been a difficult one. Those who know the journalist say one of the true joys of his career has been the freedom from breaking news to focus on deeper reportage on shows dedicated to long-form storytelling.
His resignation is another blow to CBS News during the tenure of editor-in-chief Bari Weiss. Weiss has worked to overhaul the network’s operations since joining CBS News last year after Paramount-Skydance bought his conservative editorial site Free Press for $150 million, making him its news leader, but he has also made a number of gaffes. One of them was the decision to postpone “60 Minutes” reporting by correspondent Sharin Alfonsi on the violent situation of immigrants being deported by the United States. Not because there were any errors in the content, but because Weiss wanted Trump administration officials to comment on camera, even though Alfonsi had asked for answers in advance. The report was published on “60 Minutes” a few weeks later.
Weiss is also working to reduce staff at CBS Evening News and is considering additional layoffs, with a series of layoffs that could represent at least 15% of the entire CBS News staff. Her efforts to date have created a level of mistrust between her management team and those at CBS News.
“60 Minutes” publishes investigative stories as well as profiles and features, but its credibility has been undermined over the past two years after corporate executives failed to defend the magazine from what was largely thought to be a nuisance lawsuit from President Donald Trump over its editing of an interview with then-2024 Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris. Paramount agreed to pay Mr. Trump a $16 million settlement, hoping to clear the way for the company to be sold from its former controlling shareholders, the Redstone family, to the Ellison family, which now runs Paramount Skydance.
As a result, two senior executives at CBS News — Bill Owens, executive producer of “60 Minutes,” and Wendy McMahon, former CEO of CBS News, local stations and syndication — suggested in statements that they could no longer resist corporate mandates they felt would weaken the newsroom. There have been calls for “60 Minutes” to cut back on the number of hard news and investigative segments it airs and focus more on features and celebrity profiles that executives believe will attract more attention online, according to three people familiar with the show.
Cooper appeared on “60 Minutes” on Sunday night for the “Last Minutes” segment, a short ending note that will be part of the TV broadcast starting in 2022. It remains to be seen whether this cameo will be his last appearance on the show’s 58th current season.
But when Cooper steps down, he will have another means of promoting the “60 Minutes” story. For years, CBS has allowed Mr. Cooper to air a “60 Minutes” segment on CNN.
