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An email from an employee at a CBS affiliate:
With this news, it's becoming even more embarrassing to be a CBS affiliate. Bari Weiss is Trumpifying CBS News. They are whoring their late night hours out to Byron Allen's cheap and not-at-all funny programming and there is little the affiliates can do about any of it unless their agreements allow them to preempt programming. The O&Os have no choice at all.
What was once a highly-respected network has fallen to just above Fox News.
An open letter to David Ellison:
Mr. David Ellison
Chairman and Chief Executive
Paramount Skydance
1515 Broadway
New York, NY 10036
June 1, 2026
Dear Mr. Ellison:
We, the undersigned, urge you and your management team at CBS News to uphold the principle of editorial independence that has made 60 Minutes – in the words of the show's new executive producer – "the most important television journalism brand this country has ever produced."
Acquiring CBS News came with a legal requirement to serve the public interest, avoid political interference, and maintain editorial independence. Institutional trust is not transferred through ownership. 60 Minutes prospered and had impact because it operated under an implicit and sacred obligation to the public.
Modernizing the show for new audiences and new delivery approaches is important – but not at the cost of editorial integrity. The wholesale dismissal of editorial management, without a public pledge to maintain the values, standards, and traditions of this program, puts the legacy of 60 Minutes in jeopardy.
We urge you to send a clear message to your staff, your viewers, and the broader public that you respect and value editorial independence and press freedom. What is at stake is not just the future of the most important and enduring television journalism program in this country, but the future of free and independent press in America.
Signed,
Lowell Bergman, Former 60 Minutes producer, Emeritus Chair UC Berkeley
Alex Gibney, Documentary Filmmaker, Founder Jigsaw Productions
Peter Klein, Former 60 Minutes producer, Founder Global Reporting Centre
Lisa Cohen, Former 60 Minutes producer, Director - duPont Awards
Steve Kroft, Former 60 Minutes correspondent
Dan Rather, Former 60 Minutes correspondent, anchor
David Gelber, Former 60 Minutes producer, Years of Living Dangerously
Rome Hartman, Former 60 Minutes producer
Wayne Nelson, Former 60 Minutes producer, senior producer CBS News
John Marks, Former 60 Minutes producer, Executive Producer
Alan B. Goldberg, Former 60 Minutes producer
Mitch Weitzner, Former 60 Minutes producer
Janet Roach, Former 60 Minutes producer, Professor Emeritus
Jeff Newton, Former 60 Minutes producer
Richard Buddenhagen, Former 60 Minutes editor
Carol Bash, Independent filmmaker, former 60 Minutes
M. Scott Cole, Former senior editor 60 Minutes
Rob Rainey, Former 60 Minutes cameraperson
Bob Goldsborough, Former 60 Minutes cameraperson
Bob Orr, Former CBS News correspondent
Vicki Mabrey, Former CBS News correspondent
Wyatt Andrews, Former CBS News correspondent
Richard Schlesinger, Former CBS News correspondent
Jim Stewart, Former CBS News correspondent
Jim Murphy, Former EP - CBS Evening News
George Merlis, Former EP - Good Morning America and CBS Morning News
Michael Sims, Former VP CBS News
Daniel Woo, Former Executive Editor CBS News
Mimi Spillane, Former CBS News producer
Jeff Goldman, Former CBS News producer
Brian Healy, Former CBS News producer
Martha Spanninger, Former CBS News producer
Deborah Grau, Former CBS News producer
Mara Altschuler, Former CBS News producer
Kathy Sulkes, Former CBS News producer
Elliot Kirschner, Former CBS News producer, filmmaker
Judy Reemtsma, Former CBS News producer
Jonnet Steinbaum Abeles, Former CBS News producer
Deborah Rubin, Former CBS News producer
Bruce Rheins, Former LA Deputy Bureau Chief - CBS News
Matt Speiser, Former VP, PBS NewsHour
Betsy West, Former VP CBS News, Storyville Films
Jonathan Logan, CEO, Jonathan Logan Family Foundation
Jelani Cobb, Dean, Columbia Journalism School
Michael Goldfarb, Former NPR reporter, Host - First Rough Draft of History
Carter Yang, Former producer - CBS, ABC, CNN
Luz Montez, Former ABC News producer
Fiona Turner, Former producer ABC & NBC, VII Foundation
Brian Reed, Host of Question Everything, S-Town
Lawrence Wright, New Yorker, author
Anna Quindlen, Writer
Adam McKay, Filmmaker
Glenn Close, Actress, Co-founder Bring Change to Mind
Gary Knight, Executive Director - VII Foundation
Anthony DePalma, Journalist & author
John Markoff, Research Fellow - Center for Advanced Study in Behavioral Sciences
Janice Wood Wetzel, Dean and Professor Emerita Adelphi University
Susan Marples, Program Manager - Columbia Journalism
Jonathan Ebinger, George Washington University
Robe Imbriano, Director Documentary - Columbia Journalism
Paula Span, Professor - Columbia Journalism School
Cathy Carr, Adjunct Professor - Penn Law School
Thomas Grant, Assistant Professor - University of Alabama
Erika Glass, News producer/reporter
Charlie Specht, Investigative reporter
Margaux Moores-Tanvier, Producer
Peter Bull, Writer/Producer/Director
Mc Nelly Torres, Independent investigative journalist
Ted Scheinman, Author and magazine editor
David Beers, Editor-in-Chief - The Tyee
Brett Shipp, The Shipp Channel
Kate Taverna, Documentary producer/director/editor
Deirdre English, Former Director of Magazine Center at Berkeley Journalism
Brad Serreno, Cinematographer
Susan Elmiger, Film editor
Terry Benson, TV stage manager
Stephanie Mechura, Documentary editor
Liz Werthan, Retired social worker
Glenn Bergman, Board Member, Resolve Philly
Connie Carter, Compass real estate
Mila Tewell, Teacher
Joan Wicks, Viewer
