{"id":28360,"date":"2026-06-07T10:39:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-07T10:39:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/?p=28360"},"modified":"2026-06-07T10:39:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-07T10:39:11","slug":"60-minutes-no-longer-exists-and-a-tv-legend-just-accused-cbs-of-destroying-its-own-crown-jewel-%f0%9f%94%b4%f0%9f%91%87-for-more-than-half-a-century-60-minutes-was-consid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/?p=28360","title":{"rendered":"60 MINUTES NO LONGER EXISTS\u2019 \u2014 AND A TV LEGEND JUST ACCUSED CBS OF DESTROYING ITS OWN CROWN JEWEL.\u201d \ud83d\udd34\ud83d\udc47 For more than half a century, 60 Minutes was considered untouchable \u2014 one of the most trusted and successful news programs in television history. But now, a former star of the show is sounding the alarm, claiming that what viewers have known and loved for decades is being dismantled before their eyes."},"content":{"rendered":"<h4>\u201960 Minutes\u2019 Veteran Steve Kroft Says Show \u2018No Longer Exists\u2019 Following Scott Pelley Firing<\/h4>\n<div class=\"story-metadata\">\n<div class=\"comment-block\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"main-art\">\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tvinsider.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/steve-kroft-1014x570.jpg\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 50vw\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.tvinsider.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/steve-kroft-1014x570.jpg 1014w, https:\/\/www.tvinsider.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/steve-kroft-1420x798.jpg 1420w, https:\/\/www.tvinsider.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/steve-kroft-770x433.jpg 770w\" alt=\"Steve Kroft\" width=\"1014\" height=\"570\" data-skip-lazy=\"\" \/><figcaption>\n<div class=\"image-credit\">PBS NewsHour YouTube<\/div>\n<div class=\"image-caption\"><\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"post-block\" data-skm-boomerang-el-2=\"processed\">\n<div class=\"what-to-know-box\">\n<h3>What To Know<\/h3>\n<div class=\"what-to-know-content\">\n<ul>\n<li>Retired\u00a0<em>60 Minutes<\/em>\u00a0correspondent Steve Kroft criticized CBS News for firing Scott Pelley and other key staff.<\/li>\n<li>Kroft argued that new bosses are fundamentally changing the\u00a0<em>60 Minutes<\/em>\u2018 format despite its continued high ratings.<\/li>\n<li>He links the upheaval to pressure from a Trump lawsuit and corporate concerns.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Retired\u00a0<em>60 Minutes<\/em>\u00a0correspondent\u00a0Steve Kroft\u00a0has blasted\u00a0CBS News for firing\u00a0veteran reporter\u00a0Scott Pelley\u00a0and other staff members in a move he called \u201cdisastrous\u201d for the show and its audience.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking to Geoff Bennett on\u00a0<em>PBS NewsHour<\/em>\u00a0on Wednesday (June 3), Kroft said, \u201cThis is journalistic interference. It makes no business sense whatsoever. It\u2019s the highest-rated news program on television, and it has been that way for more than 50 years.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"code-block code-block-4\"><\/div>\n<p>Kroft retired from\u00a0<em>60 Minutes<\/em>\u00a0on May 19, 2019, after 30 seasons on the show. During his tenure, he received three Peabody Awards and nine Emmy Awards, including one for Lifetime Achievement in 2003. However, he believes the show\u2019s future is in jeopardy following the recent upheaval.<\/p>\n<p data-skm-boomerang-el-2=\"processed\">\u201cI think it\u2019s been disastrous \u2014 for the show, for the audience, which is not insubstantial,\u201d he stated. \u201cIt\u2019s been going on a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"code-block code-block-5\"><\/div>\n<div id=\"skm-boomerang-el-2-7\" data-google-query-id=\"CJLR47H_75QDFeiZpgMd96kmBg\">\n<div id=\"google_ads_iframe_\/8352,173750744\/a.tvinsider\/entertainment_2__container__\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered\"><iframe id=\"twitter-widget-0\" class=\"\" title=\"X Post\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?creatorScreenName=tvinsider&amp;dnt=false&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-0&amp;features=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%3D%3D&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=2062314960970002798&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tvinsider.com%2F1268041%2F60-minutes-veteran-steve-kroft-says-show-no-longer-exists-following-scott-pelley-firing%2F&amp;sessionId=879925fccdf989beedf8edd5699d82c98c8bcc4f&amp;siteScreenName=tvinsider&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=6a3ad42b224df%3A1778106238597&amp;width=550px\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-tweet-id=\"2062314960970002798\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\" data-origwidth=\"\" data-origheight=\"\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Last week, CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss announced that the show\u2019s executive producer,\u00a0<\/span><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Tanya Simon<\/span><\/strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">, would be replaced by tech journalist and filmmaker Nick Bilton. In addition, exec producer Draggan Mihailovich and correspondents\u00a0<\/span><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Cecilia Vega<\/span><\/strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Sharyn Alfonsi<\/span><\/strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0were fired.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Pelley spoke out against the changes and Weiss\u2019 handling of CBS News during\u00a0a heated staff meeting\u00a0on Monday (June 1), during which he said Weiss was \u201cmurdering\u201d 60 Minutes and told Bilton he had \u201cslender qualifications\u201d for the job. On Tuesday (June 2), Bilton sent a termination letter to Pelley, noting that he\u2019d been fired \u201cfor cause, effective immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-skm-boomerang-el-2=\"processed\">\u201cI think basically\u00a0<em>60 Minutes<\/em>, as the audience has known it, no longer exists,\u201d Kroft said in a separate interview with\u00a0New York Magazine. \u201cThe firings are too substantial.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He continued, \u201cAll of the people involved are very good journalists, and the new management, Bari Weiss\u00a0and David Ellison [Paramount CEO], have made it clear they want to go to a completely different format, model, call it what you want. They thought that what<em>\u00a060 Minutes<\/em>\u00a0was doing had become outdated and old and musty and needed to be changed, in spite of the fact that the audience has gone up 9 percent in the last year.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"inline-callout\">\n<div class=\"inline-callout-content\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Steve-Kroft-PBS-NewsHour.jpg\" alt=\"60 Minutes' Alum Steve Kroft Rips &quot;Disastrous&quot; Firings, Turmoil At Show\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Kroft traced the changes back to the lawsuit Donald Trump\u00a0filed against CBS News over a 2024\u00a0<em>60 Minutes<\/em>\u00a0interview with\u00a0Kamala Harris, which the president claimed was edited with bias. Last July, Paramount\u00a0agreed to pay $16 million\u00a0to Trump as part of a settlement.\u00a0While many legal experts agreed the claims were baseless, the lawsuit was taken seriously, in part, because Paramount\u2019s merger with Skydance Media required government approval.<\/p>\n<p data-skm-boomerang-el-2=\"processed\">\u201cThere was the intimidation factor,\u201d Kroft told NY Mag. \u201cPeople had become extremely nervous about what kinds of stories they could suggest, what kinds of stories they could work on, and how any story that would be critical of the Trump administration would face major obstacles to getting on the air.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201960 Minutes\u2019 Veteran Steve Kroft Says Show \u2018No Longer Exists\u2019 Following Scott Pelley Firing PBS NewsHour YouTube What To Know Retired\u00a060 Minutes\u00a0correspondent Steve Kroft criticized CBS News&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28361,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28360"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28360\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28362,"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28360\/revisions\/28362"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/28361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}