CBS News has fired veteran “60 Minutes” correspondent Scott Pelley a day after he confronted the show’s new executive producer at a heated staff meeting.Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.“Your antipathy to the future of the show has come through loud and clear.And I have heard you,” “60 Minutes” executive producer Nick Bilton said in a letter addressed to Pelley.
“I therefore write on behalf of CBS News, Inc.to inform you that your employment with CBS is terminated for cause effective immediately,” Bilton added.Pelley’s exit deepens the turmoil at “60 Minutes,” the leading newsmagazine on American television.
In recent months, “60 Minutes” employees have clashed with CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss over the show’s editorial direction under its new corporate owner, Paramount Skydance, the media company run by technology scion David Ellison.The tension reached a fever pitch on Monday during a “60 Minutes” staff meeting designed to introduce employees to Nick Bilton, a technology journalist tapped by Weiss to be executive producer of the program.Pelley laced into Bilton during the meeting, according to an audio recording obtained by NBC News and a source who was in the room.Bilton, a documentary filmmaker and a former tech columnist at The New York Times, told the gathered staffers that Weiss “loves this institution,” according to the recording.
Pelley interrupted Bilton and pushed back, accusing Weiss of “murdering” the venerable newsmagazine, which debuted in September 1968.“She does not love this place,” Pelley told Bilton, according to the recording.“She was brought in to kill it, and she’s been doing exactly that.”Add NBC News to GoogleScott Pelley accuses Bari Weiss of 'murdering' '60 Minutes' at CBS News staff meeting04:12Pelley also pressed Bilton on the firings of former executive producer Tanya Simon and fellow correspondents Sharyn...