Former ’60 Minutes’ Anchor Blasts Show As ‘Snake Pit’
CBS News has undergone a lot of changes since the network came under new ownership. 60 Minutes lost one of its most popular anchors. But the issues on the show reportedly go back decades. Another longtime anchor spoke out about how much they hated being on the show, calling it a ‘snake pit.’ Keep reading for all the details on the shocking claims.
CBS News Head Reportedly Looking To Shake Up 60 Minutes
CBS’s parent company, Paramount Global, merged with Skydance Media last summer. Bari Weiss took over as editor-in-chief at the network’s news division. She made immediate changes, including laying off hundreds of staffers. But the changes happened on screen as well.
CBS Evening News anchors John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois resigned. They were replaced by Tony Dokoupil. 60 Minutes has always been one of the most trusted and respected news programs. However, the program changed a lot after Bari Weiss took over. Longtime correspondent Anderson Cooper quit the program, though he remains on CNN.
But the changes aren’t done yet. According to several reports, Bari Weiss is looking to shake 60 Minutes up even more. She reportedly wants to focus more on hard-hitting news and less on fluffy segments. That could mean ousting more anchors or changes behind the scenes.
Former Anchor Blasts Show As ‘Snake Pit’
The atmosphere at CBS News is reportedly very negative with all the changes. However, one longtime anchor said in a new interview that 60 Minutes has always been a “snake pit.” Steve Kroft was an anchor with the program for three decades. He joined the program in 1989 and retired in 2019 after 30 years.
He recently spoke with Bill O’Reilly about his time on 60 Minutes. Steve Kroft admitted on the We’ll Do It Live! podcast that he “hated” his time on 60 Minutes. “First of all, the job is just 24 hours a day. I mean, you may get a couple hours of bad sleep. Beepers going off, getting on jets, going here and there, the whole thing, then coming back and spending, you know, three or four days writing the script, and then going to the screenings and then getting on, starting it all over again.”
He said that he took the anchor job because the show told “good stories.” He often reported on groundbreaking stories, including interviewing Hilary Clinton after her husband’s scandalous affair with an intern made headlines and impeachment proceedings.
Steve Kroft revealed a lot of backstabbing behind the scenes. He expected people to be happy for him getting the job. But that’s not what happened. “You realize after a while that not everybody was happy that I got this job. There were other people that wanted it. And so then you’ve all of a sudden made a bunch of enemies… It’s a snake pit,” he said about the backstage drama.
Steve Kroft took a step back from his journalist career after retiring from 60 Minutes in 2019. Does it surprise you that he hated working on the show but stayed for 30 years?
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