Lesley Stahl Signs Two-Year Contract to Stay at 60 Minutes

Lesley Stahl signed a new two-year contract to remain at 60 Minutes. Stahl, 84, finalized the agreement in recent days before late Wednesday, the Status newsletter reported. Bill Whitaker and Jon Wertheim announced in a joint memo that they would remain at the program.

The three correspondents issued the memo days after a series of dismissals at the broadcast. Executive producer Tanya Simon, correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega, senior executive producer Draggan Mihailovich, veteran producer Guy Campanile, and digital operations chief Matthew Polevoy were removed.

Veteran correspondent Scott Pelley was fired after publicly confronting management over the dismissals.

Stahl’s new deal was negotiated by CAA chief Bryan Lourd. Lourd worked primarily with CBS television chief George Cheeks and CBS News president Tom Cibrowski to finalize the agreement, according to Status. Bari Weiss yanked a report by Sharyn Alfonsi about El Salvador’s CECOT prison just ahead of its originally scheduled broadcast.

Weiss said the Alfonsi report needed additional reporting. Alfonsi accused CBS News leadership of attempting to sanitize accurate reporting. Nick Bilton was installed as executive producer of 60 Minutes.

CBS News fired Scott Pelley the day after Bilton’s installation. Paramount CEO David Ellison personally called Lesley Stahl and promised to respect the editorial independence of 60 Minutes, the New York Times reported. Stahl told the Times her toast was “to us,” meaning the survivors.

Even after agreeing to remain, Stahl continued to criticize the handling of the shakeup. The Post has sought comment from CBS News and Paramount.