Scott Pelley is not looking to go quietly. The veteran 60 Minutes correspondent, and one time CBS Evening News anchor, hit back at CBS News for firing him on Tuesday. In a lengthy statement, Pelley accused CBS News management, led by editor-in-chief Bari Weiss, of “incompetence and unprofessionalism” and made more damning accusations including that they “instructed me to inject falsehoods and bias into a politically sensitive story.”
Incoming 60 Minutes executive producer Nick Bilton fired Pelley on Tuesday, the day after a fiery meeting with the show’s staff that saw Pelley call out Bilton’s lack of TV news experience and upbraid the management under Weiss. Pelley notably said that Weiss is “murdering 60 Minutes. She does not love this place; she was brought in to kill it and is doing exactly that.”
“You should hear this from me first. We have parted ways with Scott Pelley,” Bilton wrote in a note to 60 Minutes staff Tuesday. “I know how much Scott meant to many of you, and I don’t say this lightly. I made repeated attempts to have direct conversations with him over the weekend, and this afternoon I tried to find common ground. That was not the path Scott chose.”
In the note to Pelley, Bilton wrote: “Yesterday, you hijacked my first meeting with staff to disparage me, my qualifications and my intentions with remarkable incivility and contempt. I welcome a diversity of viewpoints and respectful debate among the team, but this was nothing of the sort.”
Later on Tuesday, Pelley released his statement about his firing, which reiterated the importance of 60 Minutes in America’s cultural fabric and how it was now under attack from outside forces. “60 has been the number-one program in America for decades because our beloved audience finds integrity, quality, and humanity in our stories,” Pelley wrote. “Now, the new owner of our network is casting this legend aside, apparently to curry a moment of favor with the Trump administration.”
In the statement, Pelley made some incendiary claims against CBS News management, including that they “instructed me to inject falsehoods and bias into a politically sensitive story. I’ve been told to include assertions that are unverified.” Pelley added that he “managed to ignore these instructions or refuse them.”
He also wrote that, “Recently, politicians have been invited to choose correspondents for interviews on the broadcast. Giving politicians control over 60 Minutes interviews is not how this is done.” Pelley was likely alluding to a recent 60 Minutes interview with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who reportedly picked his interviewer.
Pelley wrote that “incompetence and unprofessionalism in the new management have wreaked havoc” in the newsroom, and in a particular case involving one of his stories, “the entire program came within 19 minutes of not getting on the air at all.”
He lamented the position that a venerable institution like 60 Minutes now finds itself in, and explained why he had to leave: “Most of the men and women of CBS News are still in that fight. But now the collapse of values at the top has become untenable. The leadership of 60 Minutes is no longer recognizable. The principles I hold dear are gone, and so I must leave as well.”
There has never been anything in America like 60 Minutes.
The Sunday tradition is the most successful program of any kind in history. For more than a decade, its innovative growth on every major online platform has extended its reach to countless millions around the world. This spring, at the end of our 58th season, 60 Minutes grew rapidly with an unheard-of 9% jump in viewers on CBS.
“60” has been the number-one program in America for decades because our beloved audience finds integrity, quality, and humanity in our stories. When stewardship of the program passed to my colleagues and me, our responsibility was to expand energetically into a new age of media technology while preserving the values our audience expects. Now, the new owner of our network is casting this legend aside, apparently to curry a moment of favor with the Trump administration.
The waste is heartbreaking.
Last month, 60 Minutes lost its DNA when our entire senior leadership and two of our best on-air correspondents were cruelly fired without cause. Good people were silenced because they stood up for our audience. They stood for fairness against the forces of political bias; they stood for professionalism against chaos.
For my part, new management has instructed me to inject falsehoods and bias into a politically sensitive story. I’ve been told to include assertions that are unverified. To date, in every case, I have managed to ignore these instructions or refuse them. Recently, politicians have been invited to choose correspondents for interviews on the broadcast. Giving politicians control over 60 Minutes interviews is not how this is done. Finally, incompetence and unprofessionalism in the new management have wreaked havoc. In a case involving one of my stories, the entire program came within 19 minutes of not getting on the air at all.
At 60 Minutes, we have fought harder than anyone knows to save the program that became an American icon. We owed that to our millions of viewers. I am deeply moved by the thousands of wishes we have received to “keep up the good fight.” Most of the men and women of CBS News are still in that fight. But now the collapse of values at the top has become untenable. The leadership of 60 Minutes is no longer recognizable. The principles I hold dear are gone, and so I must leave as well.
I depart after 37 years at CBS with one emotion—a heart brimming with gratitude for the men and women of CBS News who encouraged and enriched my work, very often at the risk of their own lives. I pray for a day when those people and their ideals are honored again—a day when sanity, competence, and courage return.
Scott Pelley
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