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Is a group of ousted 60 Minutes staffers plotting a streaming comeback?
Former 60 executive producer Bill Owens has been seeking to raise cash to launch a new news program, potentially with former producers and correspondents from the CBS newsmagazine like Scott Pelley, per the New York Post .
The Post reported that there's a pitch deck involved, and a fundraising goal of $50 million for the program. It's worth noting that someone close to Owens told the Post that its report was not true.
Still, the idea is a tantalizing one, with 60 Minutes scrambling to get its show on the air this season with a slate of new correspondents joining its much smaller existing team. Owens resigned last year ahead of Paramount's takeover by Skydance amid concerns of corporate overreach, and Pelley was fired after confronting 60 's new EP Nick Bilton in a staff meeting.
In addition to Pelley, CBS parted ways with correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega, with Bilton hiring New York Times columnist Ross Douthat, The Perfect Storm author Sebastian Junger, and Vice News veteran Gianna Toboni to join its ranks, alongside Norah O'Donnell and the three remaining correspondents Bill Whitaker, Lesley Stahl and Jon Wertheim.
But it is not clear that there is much appetite for a pricey newsmagazine, even if the 60 staff in exile find ways to produce it for radically less than they did on the network. Netflix has avoided news altogether, instead focusing on documentaries and video podcasts, and likewise most other streamers have shied away from regularly scheduled news programs. If they released it themselves on YouTube and other video platforms, there is little chance they would be able to recoup their costs.
But one thing is clear: The ousted 60 staffers will not be silent. Owens has been working on a book proposal, and Alfonsi and Pelley on Monday were announced as journalists-in-residence at Columbia University's journalism school.
"We're both excited and honored to welcome two journalists of this caliber to our Journalist in Residence Program," said Jelani Cobb, Dean of the school and Henry R. Luce Professor of Journalism. "Their distinguished track records in investigative reporting highlight the amazing opportunity our students will have to learn from them, and we look forward to having Sharyn and Scott with us this year."
"Joining Columbia University as a Journalist in Residence is an extraordinary privilege, especially at a time when deep, rigorous and fearless reporting has never been more vital," added Alfonsi. "I'm excited to work with the next generation of journalists who are eager to ask the tough questions that hold power accountable."
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