CBS News abruptly fired veteran “60 Minutes” correspondent Scott Pelley, 68, on the 2nd (local time).
Pelley, a former anchor of the CBS Evening News, criticized the credentials of the network’s new newsroom leadership and denounced a recent round of producer layoffs at a staff meeting the day before. He was dismissed the following day.
Major U.S. outlets, including The Associated Press, cited reporting by the media site Status, which said the confrontation erupted during a meet-and-greet on the morning of the 1st that was attended by the program’s full production team.
Status, which said it reviewed an audio recording of the meeting, reported that Pelley interrupted Nick Bilton — named the show’s executive producer on the 28th of last month — as soon as Bilton began his opening remarks and launched a protest. Pelley also criticized Barry Weiss, CBS’s head of news, who did not attend the meeting, saying Weiss had “absolutely no qualifications” for the role and calling the changes Weiss made to the CBS Evening News “disastrous.”
At the end of last month, CBS News dismissed Tanya Simon, the executive producer of 60 Minutes, along with longtime correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega.
The dispute traces back to questions of bias that swirled around CBS News after the 2024 U.S. presidential election and during President Donald Trump’s second term, and to allegations that outside pressure tied to corporate mergers influenced the network.
Paramount, the parent company of CBS News and other CBS properties, was acquired last August by Skydance Media, led by David Ellison. David Ellison’s father, Oracle co‑founder Larry Ellison, is a longtime friend of President Trump.
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