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** OPINION
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** Can the new hires for ‘60 Minutes’ meet the challenge?
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Author and new “60 Minutes” contributor Sebastian Junger, shown here in May of 2025. (Photo by Andy Kropa/Invision/AP)

The media world is still buzzing about some of the new hires for the upcoming season of CBS’s “60 Minutes.” Most notably, the talk has been about the hiring of Ross Douthat, the conservative New York Times columnist, as a full-time correspondent.

Douthat is joining the gold standard of TV news despite not having any TV news experience. And his background is that of a columnist, not a hard news reporter.

Now, to be clear, that’s not to say Douthat didn’t do reporting while writing his columns. He surely did. But there are questions about whether someone who is mostly known for writing opinion columns can make the jump to down-the-middle reporter.

Douthat is a smart guy and superb communicator. His distinguished career at the Times shows that.

But the lack of TV experience makes the hire surprising and risky.

Can the good folks at “60 Minutes” coach him up, so to speak, to turn him into a good TV journalist? Maybe.

Then again, is “60 Minutes” the place to teach people how to do TV journalism? Shouldn’t anyone hired to be a correspondent already be among the best of the best when they arrive? It just doesn’t feel as though “60 Minutes” is the type of place where you do on-the-job training.

And, let’s not forget, that the program’s new executive producer, Nick Bilton, also has no real TV experience.

Status’ Oliver Darcy wrote ([link removed]) , “Suffice to say, I’m told that staffers inside ‘60 Minutes’ were not exactly thrilled to hear about Douthat’s appointment. Indeed, beyond quibbling with Bilton’s glowing description of him as a generational ‘thinker,’ there was already concern that even seasoned television correspondents would face a steep learning curve producing the show’s signature 13-minute investigative pieces. For an opinion columnist with no television news background, the climb will be even steeper.”

Darcy wrote that a longtime TV executive texted him to say, “The idea that Ross can be a ‘60’ correspondent is a joke.”

“60 Minutes” also announced the hiring of several contributors: author and former ABC News special correspondent Sebastian Junger, former Vice correspondent and CNN journalist Gianna Toboni, and Trevor Phillips, a British journalist who joined CBS last month.

While those contributors do have TV experience, it appears there are questions inside of CBS News about those hires, as well. Darcy wrote in his media newsletter, “While Junger and Toboni are accomplished journalists with perfectly fine résumés, they lack the stature of someone like, say, Anderson Cooper or Lesley Stahl — the caliber of talent long associated with television news’ most acclaimed broadcast.”

Another longtime television news veteran told Darcy, “These are the most coveted on-air jobs in TV news. These people do not have the track records on the air or the public profiles or followings to move the needle. Nor do they have the relevant experience doing this particular thing — a 10-12 minute segment — which is a particular craft that has always represented the pinnacle of TV news.”

You can certainly understand the apprehension. That said, I’m actually quite curious about what kind of contributor Junger will be.

Part of my fascination has to do with my being a fan of his books, particularly “The Perfect Storm” and “Fire.” Junger has covered wars and conflicts, and has documentary experience. Along with his journalistic chops, he has a rugged and charismatic persona that might translate well to television, particularly if covering subjects like war.

You would think “60 Minutes” still needs to make a couple of hires to fill out its roster for the upcoming season. They went through last season with seven full-time correspondents, plus occasional work from Norah O’Donnell.

O’Donnell was named a full-time correspondent this week. She and Douthat join Lesley Stahl, Bill Whitaker and Jon Wertheim, giving “60 Minutes” five full-time correspondents. Junger, Toboni, and Phillip will contribute, but who knows how much? So unless the program uses various CBS News staffers to do the occasional story, “60 Minutes” probably isn’t done making hires.

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** How Americans Engage in Public Life
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People participate in public life in different ways, from voting and volunteering to following the news and taking part in religious or community activities. New Pew Research Center data from the Pew-Knight Initiative examines the complexity of Americans' engagement in public life, providing a typology of how Americans participate -- or don't -- in society, across news, politics, religion, and civic life.

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** Pushing back
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Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr continues to go after Disney with an unprecedented early review of licenses for eight of its ABC-owned TV stations. Now, a group of former FCC officials from both sides of the aisle are pushing back, saying what Carr and the FCC are doing now sends “a chilling message.”

In a filing with the FCC this week, the group wrote, “This early license renewal proceeding is unprecedented in the history of the Federal Communications Commission and a grave violation of both the Communications Act and the Constitution. Through this proceeding, the FCC seeks to censor Disney’s and ABC’s speech and send a chilling message to all broadcasters: carry speech we don’t like at your peril.”

The Guardian’s Jeremy Barr wrote ([link removed]) , “The group behind the filing includes Mark S Fowler, who served as FCC chair during Ronald Reagan’s presidency; Alfred C Sikes, who served as FCC chair during George HW Bush’s presidency; Thomas E Wheeler, who served as FCC chair during Barack Obama’s presidency; and several high-ranking lawyers and advisers to past commissioners.”

Wednesday was the last day for the public to comment on what CNN’s Brian Stelter called ([link removed]) “the FCC’s politically motivated challenge” to the local station licenses.

Stelter wrote, “The volume of submissions has been absolutely staggering — and overwhelmingly in support of ABC. The FCC website shows more than 145,000 comments. Other open proceedings have at most a few hundred responses.”

The number of comments has actually increased to more than 152,000.

Stelter wrote, “In Docket 26-131, the ABC proceeding, thousands of the comments are critical of President Trump. Hundreds also call out FCC chair Brendan Carr by name. A search of the docket for the word ‘fascist’ shows more than 500 results. But the comments mostly convey love, not loathing — a personal connection to the local stations in danger, a deep appreciation for local news coverage, and a powerful insistence that, yes, the stations do serve the ‘public interest.’’

Still, Carr is plowing forward in what feels like a politically-motivated move simply because the Trump administration doesn’t like some of ABC’s content, namely “The View” and Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night talk show.

Barr noted, “Interested parties have until 5 August to reply to petitions to deny ABC’s licenses. After that time, the FCC could either grant the extension requests, a prospect that seems unlikely, or schedule hearings on the matter. The process has no clear timetable, leaving ABC and its eight local television stations mired in a cloud of uncertainty about their ability to continue broadcasting long-term.”


** The Clark Effect
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WNBA star Caitlin Clark, playing in last week’s WNBA All-Star Game. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

There has been much divisive talk about WNBA star Caitlin Clark recently, including a controversial tone-deaf USA Today column. It seems as if everyone has an opinion on how Clark is supposed to handle herself on and off the court.

But here are the facts: Clark continues to be the face of the WNBA. She isn’t the best player in the league, but there’s no question that she is the most popular.

Ratings for last weekend’s WNBA All-Star Game, in which Clark participated and scored 17 points, were up 44% from last year’s game, which Clark did not play. This year’s game, which drew 3.2 million viewers, is the second-most watched WNBA All-Star Game ever. The most watched? The 2024 game in which Clark played as a rookie. That game drew 3.44 million viewers. And the year before Clark joined the league, the WNBA All-Star Game averaged 850,000 viewers.

In addition, there’s this: the seven most-watched WNBA broadcasts this season have all involved Clark’s Indiana Fever. Of the 24 WNBA games that have drawn 1 million viewers, 13 have involved Clark’s Fever.

Sports Business Journal’s Austin Karp reported ([link removed]) earlier this week viewership for the WNBA is up 12% from a year ago. He added, “The league’s games are averaging 742,000 viewers across all media partners. Meanwhile, more than 73 million people in the U.S. have watched WNBA games so far this season, the highest figure on record at the (All-Star) break.”


** Getting an early start
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Season 52 of “Saturday Night Live” will premier on Sept. 26, according to LateNighter’s Jed Rosenzweig ([link removed]) . That’s the earliest starting date for a new season of “SNL” in 14 years.

Now we wait to see who is coming back from last season’s cast and who is not. Seven-year veteran Chloe Fineman already announced she is leaving the show.

Rosenzweig wrote, “The next few weeks could bring news of more cast exits, as SNL contracts typically expire on August 1, although the new season’s cast likely won’t be finalized until sometime after that. August has historically been the month for in-studio auditions as Lorne Michaels and his team scout for new cast members. That process has already begun, with show reps spotted at Montreal’s Just For Laughs festival last week.”


** Media tidbits
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* Axios’ Sara Fischer is reporting ([link removed]) that Barry Diller’s People Inc. is exploring a possible sale of The Daily Beast. Fischer wrote, “The company was looking to sell the outlet several years ago, but instead installed new leadership to try to turn the business around. … Now that the site is profitable, it's taking the venture back to the market. Conversations about a sale are serious but not necessarily immediate, a source said.”
* Mediaite’s Sean James with “Fox News Beats Both CNN and MS NOW Combined in July Ratings.” ([link removed])
* For Poynter, Jennifer Nehrer with “A community can have local newspapers and still lack local news.” ([link removed])
* For Columbia Journalism Review, Amos Barshad with “Brand Buying. The battered Sports Illustrated has seen a rising ticket reseller profit off its storied name.” ([link removed])
* Front Office Sports’ Ryan Glasspiegel reports ([link removed]) that former NFL wide receiver Steve Smith will have an expanded role on ESPN’s NFL studio rotation. That will likely include such shows as “Get Up,” “First Take,” “NFL Live,” as well as the expected afternoon show to be hosted by Peter Schrager.
* Longtime NHL game analyst Eddie Olczyk announced ([link removed]) he is stepping away from his duties as color commentator on Seattle Kraken games. Olczyk works as a top game analyst on TNT national broadcasts, and will continue doing that, while spending a bit more free time with his family.


** Hot type
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Have feedback or a tip? Email Poynter senior media writer Tom Jones at [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) .

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