In a remarkable sign of the turmoil at CBS’s top-rated “60 Minutes,” correspondent Scott Pelley accused CBS News head Bari Weiss of “murdering the show” and criticised its new producer for having “slender qualifications” for the job, according to reports.
Pelley's Accusations in Staff Meeting
Pelley made his accusations during an introductory meeting on Monday between the newsmagazine’s staff and Nick Bilton, the new executive producer appointed by Weiss last week. The meeting was detailed by the media news site Status, which claimed to have heard a recording of the exchange. Weiss herself was not present, according to the report.
Status reported that Pelley, a longtime “60 Minutes” correspondent, began questioning Bilton at the 10 a.m. meeting about the firings of Bilton's predecessor, Tanya Simon, and correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega. Pelley also told Bilton, a former technology journalist and filmmaker with no traditional broadcast news experience, that his qualifications for the role were “slender.”
Pelley further charged, according to Status, that Weiss herself had “no qualifications for her job,” and that the changes she had made to “CBS Evening News,” which Pelley once anchored, “have been catastrophic.”
Bilton insisted that “Bari loves this institution” and “she loves ’60 Minutes’,” to which Pelley countered, “She’s murdering ‘60 Minutes.’ She does not love this place. She was brought in to kill it and she’s doing exactly that.”
CBS Response and Background
CBS News spokespeople did not immediately respond to a request for comment. However, a person close to CBS News leadership, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press that both Weiss and Bilton had tried to reach out to Pelley late last week when the changes rocked the 57-year-old show, to tell him he was an integral part of “60 Minutes” and that they wanted him to remain. The person said Weiss and Bilton were disappointed that Pelley's accusations were being aired publicly despite efforts to engage with him privately.
The New York Times, which also reported listening to a recording of Monday's meeting, noted that Pelley's “newscaster's baritone” was shaking during the exchange. The newspaper also quoted an unnamed executive at the meeting as saying Weiss had been prepared to come, but “we asked her not to.”
Weiss's Memo on 'New Approach'
The reports about the contentious meeting came four days after Weiss, who has become a polarising figure in the media world since taking the reins at CBS last October, told staff in a memo that it was time for a “new approach” at the top-rated newsmagazine. In the memo, Weiss and CBS News president Tom Cibrowski said their goal was “building a show that thrives in the 21st century.”
“That requires a new approach,” they wrote, defining that approach as “expanding ‘60 Minutes’ beyond a one-hour television broadcast, deepening its role across CBS News, and holding everything we produce to the ambition, fairness, and fearlessness that have defined ‘60 Minutes’ at its best.”
Bilton, they said, “embodies the energy and ambition that animated the founders of the show. We cannot imagine a better fit.”
The Status report noted that Pelley was applauded multiple times by other staffers during the meeting. It said Pelley focused on the firings last week, calling them cruel. Bilton reportedly replied that he was not intimidated. “I have been a journalist for 25 years, Scott,” Status quoted him as saying. “I have sat and talked with incredibly powerful people like you have. None of it intimidates me, OK? So you are not going to intimidate me in front of this group of people.”
