Content Advisory: This article includes sharp political commentary and serious claims about CBS News, ‘60 Minutes,’ and editorial leadership.
Scott Pelley is speaking out after his firing from CBS News, and he is not softening his view of what happened inside ‘60 Minutes.’
The former correspondent gave his first sit-down interview since being terminated last week, accusing CBS News leadership of political bias, poor judgment, and a lack of experience. Pelley, who spent 37 years at CBS News, said he hopes Paramount leadership steps in after a wave of changes at the long-running newsmagazine.
“Right now, CBS News is on fire,” Pelley said.
His comments come after CBS removed several senior ‘60 Minutes’ staffers and installed former tech journalist Nick Bilton as the program’s new executive producer under CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss.
Pelley Called Staff Cuts A ‘Black Thursday Massacre’
Pelley said the turmoil began when CBS dismissed key figures at ‘60 Minutes’ without giving the staff a clear explanation.
“This is our entire senior staff,” Pelley said.
He pointed to Tanya Simon, the former executive producer, as one of the major losses. Pelley said Simon had ended the season with a 9 percent audience increase and a 190 percent jump in online presence.
He described the firings as a “Black Thursday massacre.”
Pelley said he canceled a planned trip with his wife so he could attend Bilton’s first staff meeting. According to him, he felt he had to speak up after Bilton began reading remarks from his phone following the dismissals.
“I felt that somebody had to stand up not just for the broadcast but for the people,” Pelley said.
He Accused Weiss Of Political Influence
Pelley also raised concerns about a February ‘60 Minutes’ story on protests in Minneapolis against an ICE crackdown.
According to Pelley, Weiss asked for changes after the story had already been approved by top editors and after the show’s Sunday deadline. He said one requested change involved how the broadcast described the death of Renee Good.
“The video showed that the officer wasn’t standing in front of the car, and she wasn’t driving toward him, but that’s what the president said about that, and that’s the way she wanted it described,” Pelley said.
Pelley said he reviewed the footage with producers and an editor before rejecting the changes. “There was a thumb on the scale for the president’s version of events that I felt was a level of political influence that I had never seen in 37 years at CBS News,” he said.
CBS Denied Pelley’s Claims
CBS News pushed back on Pelley’s account.
A spokesperson said Weiss made four points in an email during normal editorial back-and-forth and said the suggestions were not politically motivated.
“They had no political motivation and were proposed solely to make the piece as strong, fair, and accurate as possible,” the spokesperson said.
The network also denied Pelley’s broader suggestion that Weiss was acting on behalf of the Trump administration.
“There is no credible argument to suggest Ms. Weiss was ‘putting a thumb on the scale on behalf of the administration’ in any instance over the past seven months,” the spokesperson said.
Pelley Questioned Weiss’ TV Experience
Pelley’s criticism did not stop with the Minneapolis story.
He also questioned whether Weiss had the background needed to run a major broadcast news operation.
“Television’s not her thing,” Pelley said.
Then he compared the situation to being asked to fly a passenger jet without knowing how.
“This is like somebody walking up to me and saying, ‘There’s a 747; there are 400 people on it; we need you to fly it to Paris,’” he said. “I’m going to decline because I don’t have a clue.”
Pelley’s firing has already turned into one of the biggest media fights around CBS News in years. Now, with his “on fire” warning and CBS’ firm denial, the battle over ‘60 Minutes’ looks far from over.
