Officials at Paramount’s CBS News are challenging rumors that the network is considering popular right-of-center podcaster Joe Rogan for a spot on its news magazine program “60 Minutes” following the departure of several high-profile journalists.
The rumor started on Thursday after gossip website Radar Online published a report claiming executives at CBS News were considering Rogan to serve as the spiritual successor of former 60 Minutes contributor Anderson Cooper, who resigned in May.
The story was based on a single anonymous “insider,” and it wasn’t clear if the source was connected to Rogan or CBS. The rumor grew legs after the Austin American-Statesman newspaper published its own story on the matter that largely cited Radar Online.
Both stories were quickly picked up online, with the official accounts of prediction marketplace Polymarket and conspiracy theory publication Leading Report repeating the claims without providing sources.
A spokesperson at Paramount said Radar Online’s report was “untrue” but did not elaborate further.
It isn’t clear why the American-Statesman newspaper republished the report, given Radar Online’s shaky credibility. The online review website Media Bias/Fact Check ranked Radar Online as having “low” credibility based on its “consistent promotion of propaganda/conspiracies, poor or no sourcing to credible information, a complete lack of transparency” and its tendency to run “fake news.”
Radar Online and the American-Statesman’s stories were still online, without changes, as of Thursday afternoon.
Rogan, a former comedian, is best known for his podcast “The Joe Rogan Experience,” which consistently ranks as one of the most-listened to shows in Apple and Spotify’s podcast charts. Spotify is the exclusive distributor of new Joe Rogan Experience episodes as part of a $100 million deal signed in 2020.
60 Minutes is the country’s most-watched weekly news program. Last October, the show was pulling in an average audience of 10 million viewers, though the average has dropped to around 6 million and 7 million in the months since.
Last week, the network fired correspondents Sharyl Attkisson and Cecilia Vega. Their dismissals resulted in a considerable amount of criticism lobbed at editor-in-chief Bari Weiss and newly-installed 60 Minutes Executive Producer Nick Bilton. A heated exchange between Bilton and 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley ultimately led to Pelley’s termination.
