A 72-year-old British knight who has spent the last five years as a Sky News correspondent is crossing the Atlantic to join CBS News. Trevor Phillips, handpicked by the network's new editor-in-chief Bari Weiss, will serve as senior global affairs correspondent and also join the storied '60 Minutes' programme, according to Variety (Variety, 3 August 2026).

Phillips has been a correspondent for the U.K.'s Sky News since 2021. Before that, he chaired the Equality and Human Rights Commission, Britain's statutory body for overseeing equality law. He was knighted in 2022 for services to equality and human rights (Variety, 3 August 2026).

Weiss, the 42-year-old founder of the digital outlet The Free Press, was appointed CBS News editor-in-chief in October 2025 after Skydance Media — owned by David Ellison — acquired Paramount, the network's parent company. Paramount was expected to pay roughly $150 million for The Free Press as part of the arrangement (Washington Post, 3 October 2025; Los Angeles Times, 3 October 2025). Weiss, widely described as "anti-woke" and known for her pro-Israel stance, took the helm despite having almost no broadcast experience (The Daily Telegraph, 2 August 2026; Al Jazeera, 6 October 2025).

In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Phillips spoke warmly of his new boss. "The great thing about her is that she's one of those people who will either change the world or crash and burn," he said. "But when they crash and burn, it's in technicolour." He framed the CBS offer as a late-career leap: "You know, I'm 72. It's a great adventure. And who turns down adventures if someone is willing to take a chance on you?" (Telegraph, 2 August 2026; Variety, 3 August 2026).

Phillips pushed back against the framing that has dominated U.S. coverage of Weiss's appointment — that "CBS News is becoming anti-woke." "That's not what Bari is about," he told the Telegraph. He also weighed in on the broader political landscape, naming Nigel Farage, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and France's Marine Le Pen as figures who "contend conventional politics is bust and needs to be done differently" (Variety, 3 August 2026).

He also offered a critique of his own profession. Broadcast journalism, Phillips said, has become "the creature of entertainment," and he argued that the story needs to come before the reporter (Variety, 3 August 2026).

Phillips declined to comment on rumours that CBS News London bureau reporter Holly Williams had been taken off a planned interview with Nigel Farage in favour of him. No further detail has been confirmed on that matter (Variety, 3 August 2026).

For CBS News, the Phillips hire is part of a broader remaking of the network's roster under Weiss. Whether that remaking changes the world or crashes in technicolour, to borrow Phillips's own phrase, is something viewers will watch unfold from their screens.