David McAfee
June 3, 2026
RAW STORY
60 Minutes' Scott Pelley. (Shutterstock)
Scott Pelley, the veteran CBS News correspondent fired this week after publicly accusing network leadership of "murdering" 60 Minutes, issued a formal statement Tuesday night detailing what he says drove him out — and the allegations are specific.
"New management has instructed me to inject falsehoods and bias into a politically sensitive story," Pelley wrote. "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."
Pelley said the demands didn't stop there. Politicians, he wrote, had been invited to select which correspondents would conduct their interviews — a practice he called incompatible with basic journalistic standards. And he revealed that mismanagement had nearly killed an episode outright: the broadcast came within 19 minutes of not getting on the air at all.
The statement named a culprit. The new owner of CBS, Pelley wrote, was dismantling the most successful program in television history "apparently to curry a moment of favor with the Trump administration."
As Raw Story reported Tuesday, Pelley was fired after confronting CBS News leadership in a staff meeting and accusing them of murdering the program. In his termination letter, CBS Executive Producer Nick Bilton said Pelley was dismissed "for cause" — a designation Pelley can challenge in court.
His new statement made clear he views the firing as part of a broader collapse. Senior leadership and two correspondents had already been cut before he was shown the door, he said, and "good people were silenced because they stood up for our audience."
None of it came during a ratings slump. 60 Minutes posted a 9 percent jump in viewers at the end of its 58th season — growth Pelley called "unheard-of."
"The collapse of values at the top has become untenable," he wrote. "The principles I hold dear are gone, and so I must leave as well."
He closed after 37 years at CBS with a prayer "for a day when sanity, competence, and courage return."
Fired Scott Pelley Says ‘60 Minutes’ Under Bari Weiss Wanted ‘Falsehoods and Bias’ Injected
“Incompetence and unprofessionalism in the new management have wreaked havoc,” said the veteran journalist as his 37-career with CBS News came to an end.
US journalist Scott Pelley attends a celebration of the announcement of CBS’s new Fall schedule at Paramount Studios in Hollywood, May 2, 2024.
(Photo by Michael Tran/AFP via Getty Images)
Jon Queally
Jun 03, 2026
COMMON DREAMS
Fired by the network where he had worked for nearly four decades on Tuesday night, veteran “60 Minutes” correspondent Scott Pelley said in a statement that he had been directed by the new management team at CBS News, led by editor-in-chief Bari Weiss, “to inject falsehoods and bias into a politically sensitive story” and also “told to include assertions that are unverified” in his reporting.
What looks like the collapse of “60 Minutes” has played out both behind closed doors at the network in recent months and publicly, with a series of high-profile firings of other longtime journalists and producers at the show. Details of internal meetings have been leaked, revealing serious tension between veteran members of the nation’s most-watched television news magazine and Weiss’ new management team.
“The leadership of 60 Minutes is no longer recognizable,” Pelley said in his statement, released just hours after Nick Bilton, the show’s new executive producer appointed by Weiss last month, announced the firing. “The principles I hold dear are gone, and so I must leave as well.”
Bilton said in his statement that Pelley had been “terminated for cause effective immediately,” following a contentious staff meeting on Monday in which Pelley accused Weiss, who was not at the meeting, of being “brought in to kill” the program, not save it.
Despite “repeated attempts to have direct conversations with him over the weekend” and earlier on Tuesday, Bilton said, his efforts “to find common ground” with Pelley were not successful. “That was not the path Scott chose,” he said.
Pelley’s narrative of events was starkly different.
“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,” Pelley said in a statement sent to several news outlets. “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,” he continued, “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.”
Pelley concluded: “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.”
“Incompetence and unprofessionalism in the new management have wreaked havoc,” said the veteran journalist as his 37-career with CBS News came to an end.
US journalist Scott Pelley attends a celebration of the announcement of CBS’s new Fall schedule at Paramount Studios in Hollywood, May 2, 2024.
(Photo by Michael Tran/AFP via Getty Images)
Jon Queally
Jun 03, 2026
COMMON DREAMS
Fired by the network where he had worked for nearly four decades on Tuesday night, veteran “60 Minutes” correspondent Scott Pelley said in a statement that he had been directed by the new management team at CBS News, led by editor-in-chief Bari Weiss, “to inject falsehoods and bias into a politically sensitive story” and also “told to include assertions that are unverified” in his reporting.
What looks like the collapse of “60 Minutes” has played out both behind closed doors at the network in recent months and publicly, with a series of high-profile firings of other longtime journalists and producers at the show. Details of internal meetings have been leaked, revealing serious tension between veteran members of the nation’s most-watched television news magazine and Weiss’ new management team.
‘She Was Brought in to Kill’ 60 Minutes: Scott Pelley Unleashes on Bari Weiss at CBS Meeting
‘Let’s Call This What It Is: Censorship’: Fired ‘60 Minutes’ Journalists Speak Out
“The leadership of 60 Minutes is no longer recognizable,” Pelley said in his statement, released just hours after Nick Bilton, the show’s new executive producer appointed by Weiss last month, announced the firing. “The principles I hold dear are gone, and so I must leave as well.”
Bilton said in his statement that Pelley had been “terminated for cause effective immediately,” following a contentious staff meeting on Monday in which Pelley accused Weiss, who was not at the meeting, of being “brought in to kill” the program, not save it.
Despite “repeated attempts to have direct conversations with him over the weekend” and earlier on Tuesday, Bilton said, his efforts “to find common ground” with Pelley were not successful. “That was not the path Scott chose,” he said.
Pelley’s narrative of events was starkly different.
“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,” Pelley said in a statement sent to several news outlets. “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,” he continued, “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.”
Pelley concluded: “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.”
Bari Weiss just set off an 'underwater earthquake' at CBS by firing Scott Pelley: expert
Robert Davis
June 2, 2026
Robert Davis
June 2, 2026
RAW STORY
CBS News head Bari Weiss at a conference in Idaho in July.
CBS News head Bari Weiss at a conference in Idaho in July.
(Brendan McDermid/Reuters)
A media expert warned CBS chief Bari Weiss on Tuesday night that she just set off an "underwater earthquake" at her network by showing veteran journalist Scott Pelley the door.
Brian Stelter, CNN's chief media analyst, told Kaitlan Collins on "The Source" that Pelley's firing likely won't go over well within the CBS newsroom and could lead to a costly legal battle. In the termination letter, CBS Executive Producer Nick Bilton said Pelley was dismissed "for cause," which he can challenge in court.
"This is like an underwater earthquake at CBS News. It's not going to be visible on TV right away, but this is bound to have many ripple effects and maybe a legal battle," Stelter said.
Pelley had been a journalist with CBS News for more than four decades before he was dismissed on Tuesday. His firing came just one day after Pelley confronted CBS News leadership in a staff meeting and accused them of "murdering" the flagship show, "60 Minutes."
"Yesterday’s performative display of hostility — enacted in front of the staff instead of in a civil, private conversation — demonstrated that you have no interest in contributing to the future success of the show, or approaching my new tenure with a mind open to collaboration and progress,” Bolton wrote in the letter.
A media expert warned CBS chief Bari Weiss on Tuesday night that she just set off an "underwater earthquake" at her network by showing veteran journalist Scott Pelley the door.
Brian Stelter, CNN's chief media analyst, told Kaitlan Collins on "The Source" that Pelley's firing likely won't go over well within the CBS newsroom and could lead to a costly legal battle. In the termination letter, CBS Executive Producer Nick Bilton said Pelley was dismissed "for cause," which he can challenge in court.
"This is like an underwater earthquake at CBS News. It's not going to be visible on TV right away, but this is bound to have many ripple effects and maybe a legal battle," Stelter said.
Pelley had been a journalist with CBS News for more than four decades before he was dismissed on Tuesday. His firing came just one day after Pelley confronted CBS News leadership in a staff meeting and accused them of "murdering" the flagship show, "60 Minutes."
"Yesterday’s performative display of hostility — enacted in front of the staff instead of in a civil, private conversation — demonstrated that you have no interest in contributing to the future success of the show, or approaching my new tenure with a mind open to collaboration and progress,” Bolton wrote in the letter.
CBS Firings Called ‘Straight From an Authoritarian Handbook’ and Preview of Paramount-Warner Bros. Merger
The pending Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger “represents an existential threat to the free press, independent media, and free speech in this country and beyond,” warned several press freedom groups.
Free press advocates project messages opposing the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger on Jazz at Lincoln Center during the News and Documentary Emmy Awards on May 27, 2026 in New York City.
(Photo by Eugene Gologursky/Getty Images for Emmys Rapid Response Project)
Julia Conley
Jun 02, 2026
COMMON DREAMS
A coalition of nine press freedom groups on Tuesday warned that last week’s firings of top journalists at CBS News’ “60 Minutes” were a “grotesque effort taken straight from an authoritarian handbook”—but emphasized that the dismissal of reporters who had pushed back against the Trump administration signaled danger for journalists across the media, particularly as a pending merger would hand control of CNN to the same billionaire family that how runs CBS.
The Coalition for Women in Journalism, Common Cause, Freedom of the Press Foundation, and Reporters Without Borders were among the groups that released a statement saying the firing of “60 Minutes” correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega—as well as two top executives—were meant to “appease a sitting president and dismantle one of the loudest voices in investigative journalism.”
But the groups emphasized that “this is only the beginning,” considering the fact that Warner Bros. Discovery recently voted in support of a $110 billion proposed merger with Paramount Skydance, owned by David Ellison, the son of President Donald Trump megadonor Larry Ellison. The deal could be finalized as soon as July.
Warner Bros. Discovery owns CNN, and media critics have warned the network could be headed for the same loss of editorial independence that CBS has faced since right-wing former opinion columnist took the helm of the latter network last year following the Paramount Skydance merger.
Since then, newly appointed editor-in-chief Bari Weiss has pulled from the air a “60 Minutes” segment that questioned the Trump administration’s explanation for the deportation of hundreds of immigrants to an El Salvador prison, personally booked guests for news programs, and called for programming that appeals to “centrist” viewers.
“Bari Weiss’ shameless actions fulfill the Ellisons’ commitment to President Trump to remake CBS to his liking,” said the groups on Tuesday. “Larry Ellison has reportedly promised to do the same at CNN if allowed to take control through the pending Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger. Not because it makes any business sense, but because they seek to control the public discourse.”
“We have to make the story heard. It’s what ‘60 Minutes’ would have done; it’s what the Fourth Estate is tasked with doing; it’s what Trump and the Ellisons want to prevent. Don’t let them.”
The groups noted that the firings of Alfonsi, Vega, executive producer Tanya Simon, and executive editor Draggan Mihailovich came as more than 200 journalists and documentarians signed an open letter opposing the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger, citing concerns that the deal “would open the door to improper political meddling in journalists’ editorial decisions,” and noting that according to The Wall Street Journal, David Ellison has “promised President Donald Trump ‘sweeping changes’ at Warner-owned CNN—a frequent target of Trump’s ire.”
“Ellison will likely alter CNN’s editorial direction (not to mention meddle with HBO’s documentaries) to be more friendly to the administration, threatening press freedom,” said the signatories, including Wajahat Ali, Mehdi Hasan, and Alfonsi.
A separate letter organized by Democracy Defenders Fund has garnered signatures from over 1,000 actors, producers, directors, screenwriters, and other entertainment professionals.
“This transaction would further consolidate an already concentrated media landscape, reducing competition at a moment when our industries—and the audiences we serve—can least afford it,” reads the letter, which calls for state attorneys general to block the merger. “The result will be fewer opportunities for creators, fewer jobs across the production ecosystem, higher costs, and less choice for audiences in the United States and around the world. Alarmingly, this merger would reduce the number of major US film studios to just four.”
On Tuesday, the press freedom groups warned that the merger “represents an existential threat to the free press, independent media, and free speech in this country and beyond, and should not be allowed to move forward.”
“We cannot let this blow to the bedrock of our democracy be lost in the constant barrage of scandal, corruption, and abuse of power,” said the organizations. “We have to make the story heard. It’s what ‘60 Minutes’ would have done; it’s what the Fourth Estate is tasked with doing; it’s what Trump and the Ellisons want to prevent. Don’t let them.”
The pending Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger “represents an existential threat to the free press, independent media, and free speech in this country and beyond,” warned several press freedom groups.
Free press advocates project messages opposing the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger on Jazz at Lincoln Center during the News and Documentary Emmy Awards on May 27, 2026 in New York City.
(Photo by Eugene Gologursky/Getty Images for Emmys Rapid Response Project)
Julia Conley
Jun 02, 2026
COMMON DREAMS
A coalition of nine press freedom groups on Tuesday warned that last week’s firings of top journalists at CBS News’ “60 Minutes” were a “grotesque effort taken straight from an authoritarian handbook”—but emphasized that the dismissal of reporters who had pushed back against the Trump administration signaled danger for journalists across the media, particularly as a pending merger would hand control of CNN to the same billionaire family that how runs CBS.
The Coalition for Women in Journalism, Common Cause, Freedom of the Press Foundation, and Reporters Without Borders were among the groups that released a statement saying the firing of “60 Minutes” correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega—as well as two top executives—were meant to “appease a sitting president and dismantle one of the loudest voices in investigative journalism.”
But the groups emphasized that “this is only the beginning,” considering the fact that Warner Bros. Discovery recently voted in support of a $110 billion proposed merger with Paramount Skydance, owned by David Ellison, the son of President Donald Trump megadonor Larry Ellison. The deal could be finalized as soon as July.
Warner Bros. Discovery owns CNN, and media critics have warned the network could be headed for the same loss of editorial independence that CBS has faced since right-wing former opinion columnist took the helm of the latter network last year following the Paramount Skydance merger.
Since then, newly appointed editor-in-chief Bari Weiss has pulled from the air a “60 Minutes” segment that questioned the Trump administration’s explanation for the deportation of hundreds of immigrants to an El Salvador prison, personally booked guests for news programs, and called for programming that appeals to “centrist” viewers.
“Bari Weiss’ shameless actions fulfill the Ellisons’ commitment to President Trump to remake CBS to his liking,” said the groups on Tuesday. “Larry Ellison has reportedly promised to do the same at CNN if allowed to take control through the pending Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger. Not because it makes any business sense, but because they seek to control the public discourse.”
“We have to make the story heard. It’s what ‘60 Minutes’ would have done; it’s what the Fourth Estate is tasked with doing; it’s what Trump and the Ellisons want to prevent. Don’t let them.”
The groups noted that the firings of Alfonsi, Vega, executive producer Tanya Simon, and executive editor Draggan Mihailovich came as more than 200 journalists and documentarians signed an open letter opposing the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger, citing concerns that the deal “would open the door to improper political meddling in journalists’ editorial decisions,” and noting that according to The Wall Street Journal, David Ellison has “promised President Donald Trump ‘sweeping changes’ at Warner-owned CNN—a frequent target of Trump’s ire.”
“Ellison will likely alter CNN’s editorial direction (not to mention meddle with HBO’s documentaries) to be more friendly to the administration, threatening press freedom,” said the signatories, including Wajahat Ali, Mehdi Hasan, and Alfonsi.
A separate letter organized by Democracy Defenders Fund has garnered signatures from over 1,000 actors, producers, directors, screenwriters, and other entertainment professionals.
“This transaction would further consolidate an already concentrated media landscape, reducing competition at a moment when our industries—and the audiences we serve—can least afford it,” reads the letter, which calls for state attorneys general to block the merger. “The result will be fewer opportunities for creators, fewer jobs across the production ecosystem, higher costs, and less choice for audiences in the United States and around the world. Alarmingly, this merger would reduce the number of major US film studios to just four.”
On Tuesday, the press freedom groups warned that the merger “represents an existential threat to the free press, independent media, and free speech in this country and beyond, and should not be allowed to move forward.”
“We cannot let this blow to the bedrock of our democracy be lost in the constant barrage of scandal, corruption, and abuse of power,” said the organizations. “We have to make the story heard. It’s what ‘60 Minutes’ would have done; it’s what the Fourth Estate is tasked with doing; it’s what Trump and the Ellisons want to prevent. Don’t let them.”
