By Copyrighted Screen capture from May 21, 2006 Broadcast, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=471507
In the wake of reports that “MAGA-coded” CBS News anchor Tony Dokoupil has been assigned to the show 60 Minutes, we’re learning more about the shakeup as insiders suggest that he’s a “useful idiot” for those at the network who aim to promote a “Trump-friendly” narrative.
According to recent reporting, CBS News chief Bari Weiss — who has been criticized for her tendency to extend journalistic sympathy to President Donald Trump — is "opening up 60 Minutes to the news division," which will mean appearances from CBS Evening News anchor Tony Dokoupil. As the Independent notes, this decision has raised eyebrows among those who point out that not only is Dokoupil an unpopular host, with last-place ratings among his competitors, but that he appears to be part of a blatant political project.
Weiss was hired to head CBS News in September by Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison, whose billionaire father, David Ellison, is a close ally of Trump. Dokoupil was assigned to CBS Evening News a few months later, and he has since presided over plummeting ratings amid accusations of his "Trump-friendly" and "MAGA-coded” performance.
Previous reporting has established that Weiss contributed to that Trump-oriented attitude. In the runup to Dokoupil starting a CBS Evening News, he recorded a video introduction to viewers “while Weiss, just out of sight of the camera, coached him on his lines, which included criticizing the ‘legacy media’ for its reliance on ‘academics or elites’ — both MAGA talking points.”
One CBS correspondent said Dokoupil is “deeply lacking in self-awareness,” asserting that for Weiss, he is “a useful idiot for sure.”
Critics of the decision say that it represents the latest in Weiss’s efforts to disrupt 60 Minutes, which, while under the umbrella of CBS News, has previously been siloed from other news operations. The renowned show, however, drew the ire of Trump in 2024 after airing a heavily edited interview with the then-presidential candidate, prompting him to sue 60 Minutes for causing him “mental anguish.” Paramount settled with Trump for $16 million the following July, and Weiss was appointed editor in chief of CBS News two months later. Reports of her attempts to reshape 60 Minutes have trickled out ever since.
Yet another came on Tuesday, when it was revealed that “Weiss personally booked Sunday's 60 Minutes interview with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and gave the assignment to CBS News chief Washington correspondent Major Garrett instead of veteran 60 Minutes correspondent Lesley Stahl, who'd been working for months to arrange the sit-down.”
It is also being reported that Weiss allowed Netanyahu to have his pick of interviewers. Netanyahu then used the opportunity — his first broadcast to an American audience since the U.S. and Israel began striking Iran — to suggest that the war needed to continue.
According to sources, Weiss’s decisions have worsened the strained relationship between her and the 60 Minutes reporting team. She has previously butted heads with 60 Minutes, drawing criticism from its staff over her decision to stop a story on the Trump administration's deportation of migrants to El Salvador's notorious CECOT prison on grounds that it didn't present "the administration’s argument."