Nick Bilton mulling Stephen A. Smith, John McEnroe to be 60 Minutes' new Andy Rooney

This is the subject of a new article in New York magazine, which breaks down what’s been going on at 60 Minutes since Bari Weiss took over CBS News last year. The article takes pains to give Weiss a fair shake and features quotes from multiple, not-especially-liberal60 Minutes staff members who are less upset about the changes, at least compared to the former staffers who have spoken out about editorial interference they say they’ve experienced. But others who work at the network are more sympathetic to Weiss, even as she’s dealt with several very public flops. At least some of them see a chance to join the formerly cloistered staff of 60 Minutes. “There’s this public condemnation of what’s going on, but privately and quietly, a lot of us are saying, ‘It’s about fucking time,'” one CBS News staffer says. “Not for the leadership in the place to go down — Tanya [Simon] was beloved — but she did represent a 60 that wasn’t open to other people. Privately, a lot of correspondents feel like, Huh, maybe my chance is coming now.”

Indeed, there are people who will work at 60 Minutes who probably wouldn’t have had the chance to do that under the previous regime—people like Bilton, Smith, McEnroe, or Ross Douthat all come to mind. According to New York, Bilton has also spent the summer reviewing producer candidates, screentesting potential correspondents, and, uh, building some sort of AI system to review story ideas.