'60 Minutes' and CBS News losing credibility with departure of veteran journalists: Part 1 of 3

GEMINI

Veteran journalists Elaine Quijano, left, and Lisa Ling no longer work at CBS.

While mainstream media is currently hyper-focused on Scott Pelley’s dramatic, "for cause" termination from 60 Minutes, his exit was quietly preceded by the firings of veteran Latino journalist Cecilia Vega and two prominent Asian American journalists, Elaine Quijano and Lisa Ling.

Last month, as a harbinger of CBS News' future, the network also released Cecilia Vega, the first Latina correspondent in the 55-year history of 60 Minutes was fired. She has publicly spoken out against the network, citing "censorship" and expressing concern about the editorial direction the storied newsmagazine is taking under the new leadership of Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss.

For those of us tracking representation in network news, this pattern reveals how easily diverse talent is treated as disposable when corporate corporate ax-men take over CBS News. The network’s ongoing corporate bloodbath—orchestrated under parent company Paramount Skydance and Weiss—has systematically cleared out the very anchors who brought vital, diverse perspectives to the airwaves.

Here is how the corporate restructuring pushed out top-tier AANHPI broadcast journalists before the Pelley newsroom explosion even happened:

• Lisa Ling (October 2025): The veteran journalist was swept up in a massive wave of network-wide layoffs. As a contributor who frequently brought deeply human storytelling to CBS News Sunday Morning, Ling noted after her dismissal that contributors are often the "easy to cut" targets when corporate suits look to slash budgets.

• Elaine Quijano (March 2026): Quijano, a trailblazing Filipina American anchor who paved the way on both streaming and traditional broadcasts, was abruptly axed from her roles as a prominent CBS morning show anchor and weekend anchor. Her termination was part of a sweeping 6% workforce reduction that eliminated 60 to 70 newsroom jobs.

Last month, 60 Minutes also lost the openly gay journalist Anderson Cooper. 

According to deep-cover media watchdogs like Oliver Darcy’s Status newsletter, Cooper didn’t just leave — he fled. Sources close to the anchor reveal he was increasingly alarmed by the "MAGA-fied" editorial direction of CBS News under its controversial Weiss, and Paramount-Skydance billionaire David Ellison.

 

Scott Pelley (June 2026): Pelley's firing only came after he publicly confronted management. During an explosive newsroom meeting with new executive producer Nick Bilton, Pelley forcefully called out "Black Thursday"—the recent round of cuts that saw fellow correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi and Vega fired—accusing leadership of destroying the show's DNA.

These exits were part of a broader culling of journalists and executives across the network, including the cancellation of *CBS Mornings Plus$* and *CBS Evening News Plus.* Many industry insiders and critics have expressed concern over the loss of prominent minority voices and experienced field reporters across the network's rosters.

Mainstream headlines will continue to center on Pelley's dramatic newsroom crashout. However, the reality remains that the erosion of veteran, diverse journalists like Vega, Cooper, Quijano and Ling is what set the stage for the collapse of values at the top of the network.

During a heated editorial meeting, Pelley loudly condemned management, stating that Weiss was brought in specifically to "kill" the program. He also questioned Bilton's fitness to run the show since Bilton is a former tech journalist with no traditional broadcast news background.

Several “60 Minutes” staffers and media watchers believe Weiss and hand-picked management s are trying to pacify Donald Trump. “The new owner of our network” is casting the legacy of 60 Minutes aside, “apparently to curry a moment of favor with the Trump administration.”

The next day Pelley was fired.

Following his dismissal, Pelley released a public statement hitting back at leadership. He claimed that under the new management, "60 Minutes" had lost its DNA and alleged that executives had "instructed me to inject falsehoods and bias into a politically sensitive story."

60 Minutes long served as the undisputed "gold standard" of TV journalism, commanding unmatched viewer trust and dominating the Sunday night ratings for decades.

In his final statement on 60 Minutes, and apparently without Weiss approval, Cooper said: “I think the independence of 60 Minutes has been critical. The trust it has with viewers is critical to the success of 60 Minutes,” Cooper noted pointedly. He added that whoever runs the program requires a deep "appreciation of the history and the sacrifices" of its staff.

As a journalist and news junkie, I used to schedule my Sunday evenings around watching 60 Minutes. I always learned something new. Now, my Sundays are more open.

It looks as though 60 Minutes' time as TV journalism's gold standard has rexpired. Tick, tick,tick ....

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news, views and chismis from an AANHPI perspective, follow me on Threads, on X, BlueSky or at the blog Views From the Edge. If you find this perspective interesting, please repost.