Guy Campanile, the former managing editor of “60 Minutes,” went public this week with allegations that he and several colleagues were pushed out of the CBS News program after resisting political pressure from network leadership. In a Facebook post first surfaced by The Guardian, Campanile named a group of departed staffers, including correspondents Scott Pelley, Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega, executive editor Draggan Mihailovich, and producer Matthew Polevoy, saying they refused to become complicit in what he called the unraveling of American television’s most respected news broadcast.
Campanile, who spent 34 years at CBS News including stints as executive producer of the “CBS Evening News,” wrote that he and others were told to insert unverified claims and administration messaging into their reporting, and that they pushed back when instructed to conduct interviews arranged by government officials. He said the group’s departure in May came because they insisted on doing their jobs as journalists, calling the broader shift at the network a symptom of declining trust in established news sources rather than an isolated incident.
The claims add to months of turmoil at “60 Minutes” since Paramount Skydance chief executive David Ellison installed Bari Weiss, founder of The Free Press, as CBS News editor-in-chief last year. Longtime executive producer Bill Owens resigned earlier this year citing outside interference, and Pelley has separately said he was directed to introduce bias into a politically sensitive segment. Last year, Weiss pulled a segment on the treatment of detainees deported to a prison in El Salvador just hours before it was set to air, prompting Alfonsi to describe the move as a political rather than editorial choice.
CBS News did not respond to requests for comment on Campanile’s post. Weiss has previously defended her role, telling The Wall Street Journal in June that what critics describe as interference reflects the ordinary responsibilities that come with being an editor-in-chief. The dispute unfolds against the backdrop of a lawsuit Donald Trump filed against CBS over its editing of a “60 Minutes” interview with Kamala Harris, a case Paramount has shown interest in settling. The revamped “60 Minutes” is set to premiere its new season Sunday.
