
Out journalist Anderson Cooper is leaving his role as a 60 Minutes correspondent after 20 years with the long-running CBS news magazine show.
The Emmy-winning journalist confirmed his departure Monday, after media industry newsletter Breaker first reported on the move.
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“Being a correspondent at 60 Minutes has been one of the great honors of my career,” Cooper said in a statement, according to Variety. “I got to tell amazing stories, and work with some of the best producers, editors, and camera crews in the business.”
Under a deal between the Warner Bros. Discovery-owned CNN and the Paramount Skydance-owned CBS, Cooper has served as a 60 Minutes correspondent while also anchoring his CNN primetime show Anderson Cooper 360° and hosting the network’s own Sunday newsmagazine program The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper. Cooper reportedly signed a new deal with CNN last year and will continue to host his shows for the cable network as well as his podcast All There Is.
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In his statement, Cooper did not mention Bari Weiss, CBS News’ new conservative and queer editor-in-chief. Her tenure has been marked by controversy. Instead, he cited the demands of his multiple roles and a desire to spend more time with his two young sons.
“For nearly twenty years, I’ve been able to balance my jobs at CNN and CBS, but I have little kids now and I want to spend as much time with them as possible, while they still want to spend time with me,” he said.
“For more than two decades, Anderson Cooper has taken 60 Minutes viewers on journeys to faraway places, told us unforgettable stories, reported consequential investigations, and interviewed many prominent figures,” a statement from CBS News read, according to Deadline. “We’re grateful to him for dedicating so much of his life to this broadcast, and understand the importance of spending more time with family. 60 Minutes will be here if he ever wants to return.”
The New York Times described Cooper’s exit as “a blow” to 60 Minutes, citing his multiple Emmy-winning segments for the show as well as his star power.
But it’s just the latest shake-up at CBS News under Weiss, who was installed as editor-in-chief by Paramount Skydance CEO and presidential ally David Ellison last year. As Variety notes, 60 Minutes has been in the midst of a credibility crisis since CBS parent company Paramount’s former owners, the Redstone family, agreed to pay $16 million to the president to settle what was widely considered to be a frivolous lawsuit. The settlement was seen as an effort by the Redstones to cozy up to Trump, whose FCC cleared the way for the sale of Paramount to the Ellisons last year.
Since taking over CBS News, Weiss — who had no previous broadcast news experience and has railed against what she describes as “woke” politics and leftist media bias — has further tarnished the organization’s reputation. In December, she axed a 60 Minutes story that was critical of the Trump administration’s deportation of hundreds of migrants to a notorious prison in El Salvador.
Last month, reports surfaced that under Weiss — who is out but opposes gender-affirming care for minors as well as trans women and girls’ right to participate in women’s and girls’ sports — CBS News would begin using the term “biological sex” in its coverage of trans issues. The move is a depart from guidance from the Trans Journalists Association (TJA), which encourages the use of “assigned sex at birth.”
According to Variety, it’s unclear whether Cooper’s appearance on Sunday’s episode of 60 Minutes would be his last.
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