Nick Bilton recently flew to New York to meet with director Martin Scorsese to discuss the screenplay he adapted from his forthcoming book with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, about a Hawaiian crime syndicate, when a very different career opportunity presented itself. During the trip, Bilton also met up with CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss, whom he got to know professionally in Los Angeles, and she gauged his interest in taking over 60 Minutes. “It was an unbelievable opportunity and I couldn’t get it out of my head,” Bilton recalled Thursday, just hours after being named the iconic newsmagazine’s new executive producer.

“I said, look, I want to present my ideas to you and the way I would want to do it, and if you are interested in them, then we can move the conversation forward,” Bilton said in an interview. “And so I did, and she loved them, and I have so many ideas and innovative ideas that I just cannot wait to bring to 60.”

Weiss’s selection of Bilton sent shock waves through the network and coincided with a broader shake-up as CBS News cut ties with 60 Minutes executive producer Tanya Simon, daughter of late 60 Minutes correspondent Bob Simon; veteran executive editor Draggan Mihailovich; and correspondents Cecilia Vega and Sharon Alfonsi, the latter who accused Weiss in December of making a “political” decision in abruptly pulling her report on a notorious El Salvadoran prison, one of several missteps throughout Weiss’s seven-month tenure.

Weiss has already made significant changes, like installing Tony Dokoupil as anchor of the CBS Evening News, but upending 60 Minutes is a far bigger risk. The evening newscast has been perennially in third place, whereas 60 Minutes is not only the network’s most prestigious news show, it remains widely popular, averaging 9.1 million viewers this season. With Thursday’s moves, Weiss is fully putting her stamp on the program,........

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