CBS's 60 Minutes has brought in New York Times columnist Ross Douthat, The Perfect Storm author Sebastian Junger, and Vice News veteran Gianna Toboni as part of a new correspondent and contributor slate, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Douthat will serve as a correspondent. Junger and Toboni will join as contributors, a role that typically means appearing on segments rather than holding a full correspondent's chair. Norah O'Donnell, already a contributor for years, will have an increased presence on the programme. Trevor Phillips, CBS News senior global affairs correspondent, will also contribute. The existing correspondent bench under executive producer Nick Bilton includes Bill Whitaker, Lesley Stahl and Jon Wertheim.

Bilton announced the hires in a staff memo on a Tuesday. He was installed as executive producer in May 2025 by Bari Weiss, the Free Press founder who now serves as editor-in-chief of CBS News, The Hollywood Reporter reported.

His arrival has been anything but quiet. The restructuring that brought Bilton in ousted Tanya Simon as executive producer, Variety reported in May 2026. Correspondents Cecilia Vega and Sharyn Alfonsi were also removed in that shake-up. Scott Pelley was fired after criticising Bilton and Weiss in a heated staff meeting, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Bilton has said he wants 60 Minutes to pursue more "gonzo journalism" — a style built on immersive, first-person reporting — with new correspondents who are specialists and "the best in their field." Douthat brings a conservative opinion voice from the Times op-ed page. Junger is a war reporter and non-fiction author whose books include The Perfect Storm and War. Toboni built her reputation at Vice News, where long-form foreign reporting was the brand's signature.

The result is a roster that looks less like a traditional network news bench and more like a magazine byline list, drawn from places — a newspaper opinion section, a book shelf, a digital upstart — that the Sunday-night staple has not historically pulled from.

For viewers, the question is straightforward: whether these names translate into the kind of reported segments the programme has been known for, or whether the hires signal a different kind of 60 Minutes altogether. Bilton, for his part, has made his editorial direction explicit.