A longtime producer has introduced his departure from 60 Minutes — lamenting that his exit from the flagship CBS Information program was “overshadowed” by the elimination of his colleagues below editor-in-chief Bari Weiss’ management.
Henry Schuster, who had labored for 60 Minutes since 2007, shared the information of his departure on LinkedIn, writing in a Monday put up that it was “time for a change” and that he had been “interested by leaving for some time.”
“It has been an incredible run at 60 Minutes and what I acquired to do there was extraordinary. However I’ve been interested by leaving for some time now and when the chance offered itself in February, I took it. And at last, it’s official,” he wrote, suggesting that he took a buyout after they had been provided by the community earlier this 12 months.
Schuster alluded to the latest staffing shakeups below Weiss, whose “anti-woke” media outlet, The Free Press, was purchased by CBS mother or father firm, Paramount, final 12 months. Weiss, who has no broadcast journalism expertise, fired govt producer Tanya Simon and correspondents Cecilia Vega and Sharyn Alfonsi. She then employed tech journalist Nick Bilton as govt producer and fired correspondent Scott Pelley after the 2 clashed.
Whereas Schuster was leaving on his personal accord, he famous his exit “has been overshadowed by the pressured departures of so many colleagues and buddies on the broadcast.”
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The Unbiased has contacted CBS for remark.
The veteran producer’s departure comes amidst turmoil on the legacy broadcaster below Weiss’ route.
Weiss was employed as editor-in-chief by CBS’s new proprietor, David Ellison, a tech inheritor and ally of President Donald Trump, after his firm Skydance Media purchased CBS’s mother or father firm, Paramount World, for $8 billion final 12 months.
The editor-in-chief has been accused by critics of being too Trump-friendly, and her hiring prompted high producers to give up on ideological grounds, accusing her of dragging CBS Information’s editorial stance to the precise.
She stirred up controversy quickly after becoming a member of the community, when she abruptly pulled a 60 Minutes phase on El Salvador’s infamous CECOT jail off the air in December.
The correspondent who reported the piece, Alfonsi, was fired final month after sparring with Weiss over the piece. One other beloved correspondent, Pelley, was fired after 37 years with the community. He was let go after he apparently trashed Weiss in a gathering, saying she was “murdering” this system.
Pelley, 68, claimed the community was “on fireplace” and known as for Weiss’ elimination in an interview with The New York Occasions.
“They don’t know what they’re doing. And there’s a delicate political bias that I’ve by no means seen at 60 Minutes earlier than, or at CBS Information earlier than,” he stated.
Whereas Pelley acknowledged that it might have been hyperbolic of him to accuse Weiss of “murdering” 60 Minutes, he insisted that the language was essential to seize “the dimensions” of what occurred.
“We have now a broadcast that’s among the many most necessary in America. Essentially the most profitable within the historical past of all tv. It was doing nice, so why are we making these adjustments?” he stated.
In the meantime, Shuster, who labored at CNN for 25 years and co-wrote the true crime ebook “Searching Eric Rudolph,” stated he wasn’t certain what his subsequent profession transfer can be. He famous in his put up that he’s not “the retiring sort.”
“I’ll take into consideration what comes subsequent. Possibly I’ll lastly get my highschool diploma, or see if I’ve one other ebook in me. Or possibly one thing else…” he wrote. “I’ll attempt to keep away from being a cliché, so I’m not beginning a podcast or Substack. At the very least not now.”
