Bari Weiss CBS News Shakeup Deepens As Scott Pelley Is Fired From 60 Minutes, Executive Director Fired Last Week
Longtime 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley was fired Tuesday, deepening the turmoil inside CBS News and one of the most respected television news programs in American history.
The decision came one day after Pelley reportedly criticized CBS News Editor in Chief Bari Weiss during a tense staff meeting, saying she was “murdering the show.” He also questioned the qualifications of Nick Bilton, the new executive producer appointed by Weiss last week.
Pelley, 68, had been with CBS News for decades and was one of the most recognizable faces connected to 60 Minutes. His firing now adds another major flashpoint to an already uneasy period for the network.
Pelley Criticized CBS Leadership During Staff Meeting
According to a report from the Status website, Pelley made the comments Monday during a staff meeting with Bilton, who had recently been installed as executive producer of 60 Minutes.
Bilton, a technology journalist and filmmaker, does not have traditional broadcast news experience. In a termination notice obtained by The Associated Press, Bilton accused Pelley of turning the meeting into an “ambush.”
“Yesterday, you hijacked my first meeting with staff to disparage me, my qualifications, and my intentions with remarkable incivility and contempt,” the letter stated.
Bilton also described Pelley’s conduct as a “performative display of hostility” and said it showed Pelley had “no interest in contributing to the future success of the show.”
Related: CBS News Leader Bari Weis Replaces 60 Minutes Producer As Network Pushes New Chapter
Pelley Says 60 Minutes Has Lost Its DNA
In a statement, Pelley said 60 Minutes had lost its “DNA” under new management. He accused CBS leadership of asking him to “inject falsehoods and bias” into his reporting, though he did not provide specific details.
Status reported that Pelley also said Weiss had been brought in to kill the news outlet and was “doing exactly that.” Weiss was not present at the meeting, according to the report.
Pelley reportedly questioned Bilton about the recent firings of former executive producer Tanya Simon and correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega.
Alfonsi had previously criticized Weiss for delaying a segment about deportees sent to the CECOT prison in El Salvador during President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.
Pelley said in his statement that his former colleagues “stood for fairness against the forces of political bias.” He also accused CBS CEO David Ellison of casting aside the program’s reputation “apparently to curry a moment of favor with the Trump administration.”
CBS News Faces A Major Identity Shift
The firing comes during a difficult stretch for CBS News. Weiss took over the network’s news operation last October and has remained a polarizing figure in media circles.
Just five days before Pelley’s termination, Weiss and CBS News President Tom Cibrowski sent a memo to staff calling for a “new approach” at 60 Minutes.
The memo said the goal was to build a show that could thrive in the 21st century. That could include expanding 60 Minutes beyond its traditional hourlong broadcast.
For many journalists and viewers, 60 Minutes has long represented tough interviews, deep reporting and accountability journalism. The show first aired in 1968 and remains the longest running prime time program in television history.
Pelley’s concern, according to his public comments, is that the very reputation that made the program influential is now being weakened from within.
Pelley joined CBS News in 1989. He served as CBS chief White House correspondent from 1997 to 1999 during President Bill Clinton’s administration and later anchored CBS Evening News from 2011 to 2017. According to his CBS biography, he has won 51 Emmy Awards.
His departure marks another major break between CBS News leadership and some of the journalists who helped shape the network’s legacy. For 60 Minutes, the question now is not just who sits in the correspondent chair, but what kind of journalism the program will choose to protect going forward.
