Anderson Cooper wants to leave CBS News’ ’60 Minutes’
Anderson Cooper is set to leave CBS News’ “60 Minutes” after nearly two decades of contributing to the program, according to a person familiar with his thinking, the latest blow to the respected Sunday evening news magazine after it has been repeatedly undermined by the management of Paramount Skydance and its predecessor.
CBS News could not make executives available for immediate comment.
“Being a correspondent at ’60 Minutes’ has been one of the highlights of my career. I have had the opportunity to tell great stories and work with some of the best producers, editors and camera crews in the industry,” Cooper said in a statement. “For almost 20 years I have been able to balance my jobs at CNN and CBS, but I have small children now and I want to spend as much time with them as possible, while they want to spend time with me.”
Cooper was said to have been negotiating an extension with CBS in recent weeks, but chose to focus more on activities at CNN. In addition to his long-running 8 p.m. program on the Warner Bros. Discovery-backed network, Cooper also hosts a podcast around discussions of grief which have become increasingly popular, and hosts a Sunday longform program called ‘The Whole Story’.
Breaker, a newsletter aimed at the media industry, previously reported Cooper’s intention to leave. Cooper signed a deal late last year to extend his stay at CNN.
Cooper’s decision to leave may have been a difficult one. People who know the journalist say one of the great joys of his career has been the ability to break away from breaking news and focus on deeper reporting for a program dedicated to telling longer stories.
His departure would be another blow to CBS News under Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss’ tenure. Since arriving at CBS News last year, installed as the unit’s news chief after Paramount Skydance acquired her conservative opinion site, The Free Press, for a reported $150 million, Weiss has worked to overhaul the operation — but has also made a number of blunders. One of those was a decision to postpone a “60 Minutes” report by correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi on the violent conditions of migrants being deported by the U.S. — not because it contained errors, but because Weiss wanted a Trump administration official to comment on camera, even though Alfonsi had previously requested a response. The report appeared a few weeks later on “60 Minutes.”
Weiss has also been working to downsize the workforce at “CBS Evening News” and is considering additional staff reductions with a series of layoffs that could include at least 15% of CBS News’ total workforce. Her efforts to date have created distrust between her management team and CBS News’ rank and file.
“60 Minutes,” which features profiles and articles along with investigative pieces, has seen its credibility undermined over the past two years as company executives failed to defend it against what was largely seen as a nuisance lawsuit from President Trump over the redaction of a 2024 interview with then-Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris. Paramount, eager to clear the way for a sale of the company by the Redstone family, former controlling shareholders, to the Ellisons, who now operate Paramount Skydance, agreed to pay a $16 million settlement to Trump.
As a result, two senior CBS News executives — Bill Owens, the executive producer of “60 Minutes,” and Wendy McMahon, the former CEO of CBS News, local stations and syndication — suggested in their comments that they could no longer resist corporate mandates that they said would weaken the newsroom. Three people familiar with the show say there have been calls for “60 Minutes” to cut back on the number of hard news or investigative segments and focus more on features and celebrity profiles, which company executives believe will generate more attention online.
Cooper appeared on “60 Minutes” on Sunday night, during the “Last Minute” segment, a short endnote that has been part of the broadcast since 2022. Whether that cameo marked his final appearance on the program’s current season, its 58th, remains to be seen.
However, when Cooper leaves, he will take with him another way to promote “60 Minutes” stories. CBS has allowed Cooper to air his “60 Minutes” segments on his CNN show for years.
