Washington DC - CBS' 60 Minutes program is being slammed by viewers after giving Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth a softball interview about the rescue of a service member who was stranded in Iran.

"Norah is absolutely willing to play the part of dimwit reporter used as a propaganda tool," one CBS News staffer reportedly told Zeteo columnist Justin Baragona, referring to 60 Minutes presenter Norah O'Donnell.

The comments came shortly after a segment aired on Sunday night in which Hegseth was interviewed about the rescue of two US troops, including a weapons-systems officer, who became stranded behind enemy lines in Iran earlier this year.

Hegseth was joined by one of the soldiers, referred to only as "Bravo," as well as General Dan Caine and Admiral Ben Cooper.

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"The show is dead," another CBS News employee reportedly told Baragona. "We're just looking at some Frankenstein of bits sewn together of mismatched pieces."

According to a CNN report, Hegseth personally pushed for a segment to be produced detailing the rescue effort and glorifying the US military's – and by extent, his – response.

The report even alleged that Hegseth had even met with both Bravo and the soldier he was stranded with, referred to as "Alpha" to ask whether they wanted to participate. "Alpha" didn't want to be part of the production.

In a post to X, CNN media analyst Brian Stelter sought to gauge a temperature on people's response to the 60 Minutes interview. The response was not very promising for CBS News.

"Only watched because the TV was tuned to the Vikings game," one user wrote. Another said: "If the first segment was broadcasted in Russian on Russian state TV, I wouldn't be surprised. That was just US military propaganda in English."