Full Analysis Summary
Cooper leaving 60 Minutes
Anderson Cooper announced he will leave CBS’s 60 Minutes after nearly 20 years.
He said he is stepping away to spend more time with his young children and will remain at CNN.
In statements carried by multiple outlets, Cooper called his time at 60 Minutes "one of the highlights" or "one of the great honors" of his career.
He said family priorities motivated the decision.
Some reports add he chose not to renew his CBS contract while renewing his CNN deal.
Coverage Differences
Tone
Most outlets present Cooper’s departure as a personal, family-driven choice — quoting Cooper calling the role a highlight or honor — while others also emphasize corporate or cultural turmoil at CBS as context. The coverage therefore varies between portraying the move primarily as personal (E! News, Entertainment Weekly, Los Angeles Times) and noting broader institutional factors (PinkNews, Mediaite).
Details
Sources differ on specific family details (children's ages) and how they report Cooper’s contract decisions: some name the kids and ages (E! News, Daily Mail), others emphasize contract timing or renewal (PinkNews, crispng).
Anderson Cooper's TV career
Cooper’s 60 Minutes tenure dates to a long-standing arrangement between CBS and CNN that began in the 2006–07 season; some outlets give a more specific start date.
Over almost two decades, he reported on major domestic and international stories and won multiple Emmy Awards for his field work, while continuing to anchor Anderson Cooper 360° on CNN.
Several accounts review his broader TV career, noting he joined CNN in 2001 and hosted long-form and special programming in addition to his magazine segments.
Coverage Differences
Date Specifics
Some sources specify May 2006 as Cooper’s start (E! News) while many others refer more generally to the 2006–07 season or the 2006 era (The Straits Times, ANI News, The Hollywood Reporter).
Career Highlights
Most outlets emphasize Cooper’s awards and major reporting beats; some list specific stories he covered (e.g., Newtown, Iraq War, Hurricane Katrina) while others focus on his Emmy tally and long‑form reporting credentials.
CBS and Cooper update
CBS publicly thanked Cooper for his decades of reporting and said the door would remain open for his return.
Outlets report his final 60 Minutes segment aired this past Sunday and featured filmmaker Ken Burns.
Several reports said the Cooper segment likely closed out his run this season and that CBS left open the possibility of future contributions.
Coverage Differences
Final Appearance Framing
Some reports give a precise date for Cooper’s final segment (TV Cave cites Feb. 15, 2026) while others describe it as airing 'Sunday' without a specific date (TVLine, The Hollywood Reporter); some say it 'may have been' his final appearance (mandatory), reflecting slight uncertainty in timing and finality.
CBS Response
Most outlets quote CBS thanking Cooper and saying the door is open; some add details about specific recent 60 Minutes stories in CBS’s statement (ANI News lists recent topics).
Context for Cooper's exit
Cooper's exit has been widely reported in the context of broader upheaval at CBS News after Paramount Skydance's acquisition and Bari Weiss's appointment as editor-in-chief.
Media coverage highlights staff concerns about editorial independence, examples of delayed or pulled segments, and speculation about whether corporate changes influenced departures; some outlets treat those institutional factors as background context, while others, citing internal sources, suggest they were an active factor in prompting exits or refusals to expand roles.
Coverage Differences
Narrative Framing
Outlets vary in whether they treat CBS’s upheaval as background context (many mainstream outlets) or as a direct cause or major factor in Cooper’s departure (some alternative and industry outlets). For instance, PinkNews and The Guardian place the exit 'amid turmoil' tied to Bari Weiss’s appointment, while Mediaite's reporting of Oliver Darcy cites insiders saying editorial shifts were a major factor and that Cooper 'was not the only factor' in leaving.
Specific Incidents
Several outlets cite delayed or pulled segments as evidence of editorial interference (The Sunday Guardian, Entertainment Weekly, ABC News), but the specifics and tone differ—some report a delayed Cecot/El Salvador segment and characterize it as censorship, while others present it as a disputed editorial decision.
Cooper's future at CNN
Most outlets note Cooper will remain at CNN and will continue nightly anchoring and specials.
CBS indicated it would welcome him back, and some pieces speculate whether CBS leadership sought to recruit him full-time or whether Cooper declined expanded roles amid editorial shifts.
Observers frame the move as both a personal scaling back and part of a broader moment of talent reshuffling in legacy newsrooms.
Coverage Differences
Future Plans
There is consensus that Cooper will continue at CNN, but some sources add that he renewed his CNN deal recently (PinkNews, crispng) while others emphasize CBS interest in recruiting him full‑time (The Straits Times) or report that Cooper declined expanded roles amid discomfort with the network’s new direction (Mediaite).
Framing
Some outlets (International Business Times UK, Mint) frame the departure as a selective scaling back or recalibration rather than a permanent break, while industry outlets point to the larger pattern of exits and turbulence at CBS as part of the story.