Bari Weiss Was 'Furious' and 'Blindsided' by Anderson Cooper's 60 Minutes Swan Song: Report [View all]

Source: MEDIAite

May 22nd, 2026, 1:20 pm


CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss was “furious” and felt “blindsided” by Anderson Cooper’s remarks during his final 60 Minutes episode, according to a report by Oliver Darcy at Status. Weiss’s tenure at CBS News since she was tapped for the role by CEO David Ellison, the CEO of parent company Paramount Skydance, has been described by many media observers as rocky, and many of the critical headlines connect to the turmoil at 60 Minutes.

Weiss had written for The New York Times for years before launching The Free Press, but had no broadcast journalism experience. The issues at 60 Minutes have included the departure of several longtime top staffers and Weiss’s decision to delay airing a segment on the Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT), a notorious maximum security prison in El Salvador where the Trump administration sent some undocumented immigrants in contravention of court orders.

Cooper was reportedly on Weiss’s short list for the next anchor to helm CBS Evening News, but he not only turned her down for the anchor spot, he declined an offer to renew his contract with 60 Minutes. Weiss turned to Tony Dokoupil to anchor Evening News instead; his few months in the anchor chair have been plagued with tech problems, visa problems, accusations Weiss is putting a heavy thumb on the scale of the show’s journalism to satisfy Ellison, and numerous current and former CBS staffers dissing him and the show anonymously to reporters.

When Cooper wrapped up his final 60 Minutes episode Sunday, it was the culmination of nearly two decades as a correspondent at the television news magazine. During that time, Cooper won four Emmys and numerous other accolades for his reporting. When his exit was announced, Darcy quoted an industry observer source as calling his pending departure “another black eye for Bari.”

Read more: https://www.mediaite.com/media/tv/bari-weiss-was-furious-and-blindsided-by-anderson-coopers-60-minutes-swan-song-report/