CBS has fired Scott Pelley, a longtime correspondent for its flagship news program 60 Minutes, following a heated staff meeting where he reportedly accused Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss of “murdering the show” and questioned the qualifications of the new executive producer.
The termination on Tuesday deepens the turmoil at the most influential TV news program in the United States, just days after a leadership overhaul. Pelley, 68, criticized management during a Monday meeting with Nick Bilton, a technology journalist and filmmaker with no traditional broadcast news experience, who was installed by Weiss last week.
In a termination notice obtained by The Associated Press, Bilton accused Pelley of carrying out an “ambush” against him. “Yesterday, you hijacked my first meeting with staff to disparage me, my qualifications, and my intentions with remarkable incivility and contempt,” the letter stated.
Pelley said in a statement that 60 Minutes has lost its DNA under new management and accused managers of asking him to “inject falsehoods and bias” into his work, without providing specifics. “Now, the new owner of our network is casting this legend aside, apparently to curry a moment of favor with the Trump administration,” he added.
Status, which claimed to have a recording of the meeting, reported that Pelley said Weiss was brought in to kill the news outlet “and she’s doing exactly that.” Weiss was not present. Pelley reportedly grilled Bilton about the recent firings of Bilton’s predecessor, Tanya Simon, and correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega.
Alfonsi had criticized Weiss last year for postponing a segment about deportees sent to the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) in El Salvador as part of President Trump’s immigration crackdown. Pelley joins more than half a dozen people who have departed the Sunday news magazine in recent weeks.
Skydance Media, run by David Ellison—son of Oracle co-founder and Trump supporter Larry Ellison—acquired CBS owner Paramount in August and installed Weiss in October. David Ellison helped secure regulatory approval by promising the network would reflect “varied ideological perspectives.” Before the deal, Paramount paid $16 million to settle a 2024 lawsuit Trump filed over a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris.
Source: www.aljazeera.com