Bilton’s ‘60’ Séance
Over the last few days, as chaos has engulfed the “60 Minutes” team following Bari Weiss’ radical overhaul of the newsmagazine, Nick Bilton has been hard at work trying to stabilize the ship. While his initial approach to greeting the staff—particularly his confrontation with and subsequent firing of Scott Pelley—was poorly received, to put it mildly, Bilton has since moved in a different direction, attempting to salvage what remains of the storied program and ensure it doesn’t simply collapse under the weight of the turmoil.
Last week, he sent a memo to staffers praising the show’s remaining correspondents, Lesley Stahl, Bill Whitaker, and Jon Wertheim, describing them as “core” to the program’s success. He appointed Maria Gavrilovic, a highly respected producer who spent years working closely with Pelley, as his No. 2. And he sought to reassure a rattled staff, promising: “We will never be instructed by ownership of the company” on which stories to pursue.
Some “60 Minutes” staffers have been encouraged by the series of moves. Others are still quite skeptical of Bilton and his intentions and do not feel he has yet earned their respect.
In any event, Bilton appears to at least be listening to input from the remaining correspondents. Behind the scenes, I’m told that Bilton took the extraordinary step of expressing a willingness to bringing back at least one of the respected journalists swept out in Weiss’ purge. After being encouraged by correspondents Stahl and Wertheim, Status has learned that…
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