While “60 Minutes” will soon have a new owner, the CBS newsmagazine’s next executive producer is coming from inside the family.
Tanya Simon, a 25-year veteran of the program, will take on the role vacated by Bill Owens in April. She has served as interim executive producer since his departure.
She is the daughter of the late Bob Simon, one of the best-known correspondents during the program’s 57-year history.
Changes at the top of “60 Minutes” have been rare. Simon will be only the fourth executive producer in the program’s history and the first woman.
Simon’s appointment will be a relief to the program’s staff, where morale has been rocked by parent company Paramount Global’s battle with President Trump. The correspondents of the program signed a letter to company co-chairman George Cheeks urging him to give Simon the job.
Simon will have the backing of her colleagues who are thankful they won’t be dealing with an outsider who might not value the program’s editorial rigor and independence. But she will be faced with the challenge of navigating the operation after one of the most difficult periods in its history.
Paramount Global agreed to pay $16 million to settle Trump’s lawsuit against “60 Minutes” over the editing of an interview with his 2024 opponent, then-Vice President Kamala Harris. Trump claimed the interview was deceptively edited to aid Harris in the election.
The case was labeled as frivolous by 1st Amendment experts and the settlement widely seen as a capitulation to Trump in order to clear a path for Paramount’s $8-billion merger with David Ellison’s Skydance Media.
While “60 Minutes” did not issue an apology or acknowledge any wrongdoing, the program is likely to face intense scrutiny. Critics will be looking for signs of the program pulling its punches in reporting on Trump. In order to clear the Paramount Global deal with the FCC, Skydance has agreed to name a news division ombudsman that will report to the company’s president for at least the next two years.
“Tanya Simon understands what makes ’60 Minutes’ tick,” CBS News President Tom Cibrowski said in a statement “She is an innovative leader, an exceptional producer, and someone who knows how to inspire people.”
Simon got her start at CBS News in 1996 as a researcher for its other newsmagazine “48 Hours.” She joined “60 Minutes” in 2000, working with correspondent Ed Bradley on a variety of reports including the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. She went on to produce for nearly all of the program’s correspondents, including her father.
Her work has earned virtually every major broadcast honor, including multiple Emmy Awards, the Peabody and the DuPont-Columbia Award.
