CBS News editor in chief Bari Weiss defended the organization’s decision to fire correspondent Scott Pelley on a Wednesday morning call with staffers, saying that Pelley broke a foundation of “trust and mutual respect” when he railed against Weiss and new executive producer Nick Bilton during a staff-wide meeting on Monday.
“Before we get into it, I need to address what’s transpired in our newsroom over the past two days and what is making news,” Weiss told staffers at the beginning of the conference call, according to multiple reports. “I know I speak for myself, and I hope I speak for everyone here, when I say that I’m only interested in working in a newsroom that is built on trust and mutual respect. We cannot do our work without it.”
Weiss continued: “That foundation was broken on Monday, and despite our attempts to engage with Scott Pelley and to find a way back, unfortunately we weren’t able to do so, and so we had to part ways.”
The editor in chief thanked Pelley for his contributions, but asserted that his termination was “the path he chose.”
“We did not want that to happen, but that’s the path that he chose. That unfortunate outcome does not discount from the amazing contributions and work that Scott Pelley has done for CBS and for 60 Minutes over the course of his career,” she said.
A CBS News representative did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.
The former “CBS Evening News” anchor put Weiss on blast in a heated meeting Monday morning after last week’s dismissal of executive producer Tanya Simon and a number of correspondents, including “Inside CECOT” journalist Sharyn Alfonsi.
“She’s murdering ‘60 Minutes.’ She does not love this place,” Pelley said, according to leaked audio, interrupting a staff meeting with Simon’s replacement, Bilton. “She was brought in to kill it and is doing exactly that.”
Pelley also took aim squarely at Bilton, locking horns with the incoming executive producer. On Tuesday evening, after a sitdown with Pelley, Bilton announced that he was being terminated for cause.
“Your antipathy to the future of the show has come through loud and clear,” “60 Minutes” executive producer Nick Bilton wrote in a letter sent to Pelley. “And I have heard you. I therefore write on behalf of CBS News to inform you that your employment with CBS is terminated for cause effective immediately.”
Pelley released a lengthy note of his own on Tuesday evening, accusing Paramount CEO David Ellison of meddling with CBS to “curry favor” with Donald Trump.
“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.” Ellison’s Paramount Skydance is currently seeking final approval from Trump’s Department of Justice over the Warner Bros. Discovery merger.
