60 Minutes Is a Cage Full of Tigers. Can Nick Bilton Lead It?

It took less than a week for Nick Bilton, the new executive producer of “60 Minutes,” to land in the middle of a very public fight between the staff of the award-winning CBS News program and his new bosses at the network.Things were already tense between the staff and Bari Weiss, the editor in chief of CBS News, when she ousted the show’s senior leadership and installed Mr.Bilton, a tech journalist and documentary filmmaker with no broadcast news experience.The shake-up on May 28 set off alarms among the investigative journalists at “60 Minutes,” famous for its competitive culture and long history of fighting with management.Mr.

Bilton’s first meeting with that “cage full of tigers,” as Don Hewitt, the show’s founder, once called the program and its journalists, drew some very sharp claws.The correspondent Scott Pelley attacked Mr.

Bilton and Ms.Weiss, deriding his “slender qualifications” and accusing her of “murdering” the show.CBS News fired Mr.

Pelley the next day, and Mr.Bilton, 49, scrambled to contain the fallout with a statement proclaiming his commitment to journalistic independence.

The question now is whether Mr.Bilton has the mettle to tame his crew and get it working in time for the new season in September.A CBS spokesman declined to comment for this article.‘An unconventional pick’Mr.

Bilton’s résumé looks vastly different from that of previous leaders of the nation’s most-watched news program.He has never worked in television news or managed a large staff.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

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