Lesley Stahl has reportedly told colleagues she may leave 60 Minutes after becoming unhappy with the extensive editorial changes made to her latest report by CBS News chief Bari Weiss and other senior newsroom figures.
Stahl, 84, was said to be ‘frustrated’ by what one source characterized as a ‘very hands-on’ review process involving Weiss and Charles Forelle, CBS News’ managing editor, according to remarks reported Monday by Status.
The completed report aired Sunday as the fourth episode of the first full 60 Minutes season overseen by Weiss, following the changes she introduced at the program in June.
The segment, reported by Stahl, examined violence allegedly carried out by extremist Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank.
Status reported that Weiss, 42, and Forelle began joining editorial screenings late last week. A source told Our News Outlet on Tuesday that the first screening of Stahl’s report took place Thursday.
Weiss, who has publicly expressed support for Israel, reportedly raised concerns about portions of the story, although the specific objections have not been disclosed.
As the deadline drew closer, Forelle, whom Weiss recruited from the Wall Street Journal last year, was said to have recommended postponing the report for a later broadcast.
Stahl reportedly disagreed, arguing that any remaining disputes should be resolved immediately rather than delaying the investigation.
Veteran 60 Minutes correspondent Lesley Stahl reportedly told colleagues last week that she was weighing an exit from the program after edits to her Sunday report on Israeli settlers accused of using violence in efforts to seize land in the West Bank
Stahl, 84, was reportedly ‘frustrated’ by what a source described as an unusually ‘hands-on’ editing process led by CBS News chief Bari Weiss and managing editor Charles Forelle, who is not pictured. Weiss was photographed in Berlin last month with German media executive Mathias Döpfner and Peter Thiel
“They didn’t know if it was going to air because the screenings got so heated,” one source told the outlet.
A spokesperson for 60 Minutes, however, rejected that account in a statement provided to Our News Outlet.
“This is a ludicrous, twisted narrative,” the spokesperson said Tuesday morning. “All 60 Minutes pieces go through a famously rigorous editorial process, which includes edits from editors. This piece received far fewer edits than most.”
The source who spoke with the Mail also acknowledged that the program’s internal structure is changing.
“Things have changed at 60 Minutes. It was previously siloed off from CBS. That’s not the case anymore,” the source said, pointing to greater involvement from CBS News staff members who may be less familiar to longtime correspondents such as Stahl.
The reported tensions come after Scott Pelley’s high-profile departure from the show in June. At the time, a former CBS News executive told the Mail that “arrogance” had been embedded within CBS for years, particularly at 60 Minutes.
Speaking anonymously, the former executive described the newsmagazine as resistant to change and characterized its culture as marked by a sense of “infallibility.”
The former executive also pointed to 60 Minutes‘ separate New York City offices, away from much of the CBS News operation. They said the “air of secrecy” around the program had contributed to growing frustration among other network employees.
The precise editorial disagreements involving Stahl remain unclear. Her completed report focused on Israeli settlers accused of using sheep farms and other tactics to expand control over West Bank territory. Stahl has worked as a 60 Minutes correspondent for 35 years
Later that week, Stahl and fellow veterans Bill Whitaker and Jon Wertheim aired their intent to stay with the newsmagazine, after Anderson Cooper refused to do so in May. A source told the Mail that Cooper made the move because of the new leadership.
‘Newsrooms are not supposed to be run like dictatorships. Collaboration and argument are the way we have always worked at 60,’ part of the statement from Stahl, Whitaker and Wertheim read.
Pelley accused Weiss and the man she tapped to head 60 Minutes, former New York Times columnist Nick Bilton, of ‘murdering’ 60 Minutes on his way out.
Stahl’s issues and the direction that reportedly angered her, for now, remain unknown.
The finished product of her report offered a look at violent Israeli settlers who use sheep farms and other forms of encroachment to take over West Bank land.
Stahl also covered the clashes with Palestinians and Israeli peace activists that have occurred as a result.
