Anderson Cooper signs off from ’60 Minutes’ and praises his ‘independence’

Anderson Cooper signed ’60 Minutes’ on Sunday with a tribute to the editorial independence and longevity of the news magazine. He told viewers, “I hope ’60 Minutes’ stays ’60 Minutes,'” in a segment that capped his two-decade career as a correspondent for the venerable program.

“Few things have been around as long as ’60 Minutes’ [have been able to] maintain the quality that it has,” Cooper said. “Things can always evolve and change, and I think that’s great, and things should evolve and change, but I hope that the core of what ’60 Minutes’ is always remains,” he said. “I think the independence of ’60 Minutes’ has been critical.”

He also mentioned the show’s reputation among viewers as a trusted source of reporting and investigative journalism. Cooper joined the show in the 2006-2007 season through an unusual deal between CBS News and CNN, where Cooper is a top anchor.

“I think the trust we have with viewers is critical to the success of ’60 Minutes.’ You see a “60 Minutes” story and you think, “That was a really good story.” It was a good story because it takes time, patience and money,” he said. “I hope this is known and respected and appreciated and continues.”

Cooper has juggled his “60 Minutes” responsibilities with his day job at CNN. Cooper has said he wants to spend more time with his young children, ages 4 and 6. However, there is much speculation that the broad changes within CBS News under the new regime of editor-in-chief Bari Weiss and Paramount Skydance’s ownership of CBS played a role in Cooper’s decision.

“The entire time I’ve been doing pieces for ’60 Minutes,’ my full-time job at CNN has been over, and it still is,” Cooper told ’60 Minutes Overtime.’ “It was really challenging to do the kind of work you have to do to have a great ’60 Minutes’ piece. CNN doesn’t like me taking a lot of time off to work on a “60 Minutes” piece, so I’ve been working for “60 Minutes” mostly on weekends. While on vacation at CNN, I worked on “60 Minutes” pieces. I loved it, but it was tough.”

Cooper added that he hoped the franchise still has a long run ahead of it.

“I hope ’60 Minutes’ is around for when my kids grow up and have kids of their own, and they can watch it with their kids,” he said.