Veteran correspondent Anderson Cooper announced Monday that he is leaving the program "60 Minutes" after nearly two decades, ending a tenure that began in the 2006–2007 season under an agreement that allowed him to report for CBS News while continuing his work at CNN. He said that while he managed to fulfill both roles for nearly 20 years, he intends to dedicate more time to his two young sons, Wyatt, 5, and Sebastian, 4.
In recent seasons of "60 Minutes," his assignments for the program included reporting on people affected by long-term symptoms of COVID-19 and examining remnants of a ship near Mobile, Alabama, believed to be the last slave ship to arrive in the US. "Being a correspondent for 60 Minutes has been one of the highlights of my career," Cooper said, according to a report by E! Online. He reflected on the opportunity to tell a wide range of stories and collaborate with producers, editors, and camera crews, whom he praised as the best in the field. He also said he watched the program with his family as a child, and that viewing it often sparked conversations about the stories they saw.
During more than two decades at CNN, Cooper has covered major news and global events, including the American fighting in Iraq, Hurricane Katrina, and the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, as well as presidential inaugurations in the US, political conventions, and the shooting at the school in Newtown, Connecticut. This body of work at CNN developed in parallel with his fieldwork on "60 Minutes," a combination that gave him a vantage point on both daily cable news and long-form investigative stories.
Cooper's departure came after months of changes at CBS News, where journalists have left since Barry Weiss was appointed the network's chief editor in October, following Paramount Skydance's acquisition of its media outlets. Weiss has outlined plans to add 19 new contributors and adopt a streaming approach at CBS News, which she described as the third-largest news network, as it works to regain viewer share.
Weiss has expressed interest in bringing Cooper to CBS News full-time, including the possibility of him hosting CBS Evening News, according to The Spokesman-Review. In his retirement from CBS, Cooper did not address the diplomatic and managerial changes at the network and cited only the demands of raising young children as the factor that tipped the scales against continuing both tracks simultaneously.
