Anderson Cooper is leaving CBS News’ “60 Minutes” program after practically 20 years, in the latest staffing shake-up to hit the storied information journal and community.
Cooper has been a “60 Minutes” correspondent by means of a deal between Paramount Skydance-owned CBS News and Warner Bros. Discovery’s NCS for the reason that 2006-2007 season, based on his web page on the CBS News web site.
“For nearly twenty years, I’ve been able to balance my jobs at NCS and CBS, but I have little kids now and I want to spend as much time with them as possible, while they still want to spend time,” Cooper stated in an announcement Monday.
Cooper is the latest high-profile journalist to depart CBS News for the reason that arrival of Bari Weiss because the community’s new editor-in-chief in October following Paramount Skydance’s buy of her outlet The Free Press.
Weiss unveiled her technique in January, saying she would add 19 new contributors and give attention to bringing a “streaming mentality” to the community, which has persistently trailed in scores to rivals ABC and NBC.
She is making an attempt to revive the third-placed broadcast information community, which has been dropping viewers in the age of social media and on-line info.
In an announcement, CBS thanked Cooper for his contributions and stated the door is open if he ever desires to return.
“For more than two decades, Anderson Cooper has taken 60 Minutes viewers on journeys to faraway places, told us unforgettable stories, reported consequential investigations and interviewed many prominent figures,” the network said. “We’re grateful to him for dedicating so much of his life to this broadcast, and understand the importance of spending more time with family. 60 Minutes will be here if he ever wants to return.”
Weiss had expressed curiosity in bringing Cooper to CBS News on a full-time foundation, together with the potential for him anchoring the CBS Evening News program, based on a Puck news report, citing sources conversant in the state of affairs.
Since the launch of NCS’s prime‑time tv information program “Anderson Cooper 360,” Cooper has lined main world information occasions, starting from U.S. presidential inaugurations and political conventions to the Newtown, Connecticut, college taking pictures.
He joined NCS in 2001 and has reported on the Iraq War, Hurricane Katrina and the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
Cooper signed a new contract with NCS last year. Lachlan Cartwright’s Breaker publication first reported Cooper’s departure from “60 Minutes.”
Steve Kopack contributed.