How CBS News boss Bari Weiss finally reached her decision to fire Scott Pelley from 60 Minutes
When CBS News Editor-in-chief Bari Weiss has a big, tough decision to make, she runs it by her boss, Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison this way: “What’s your tolerance for pain?”Ellison’s answer, almost invariably I am told by people close to the matter, can be summed up in one word: “High.”Reps for Ellison would not deny the aforementioned rapport with his news chief.But others with knowledge of Weiss’s thus-far controversial reign at the Tiffany Network say it gives insight into why Scott Pelley, the long-time CBS correspondent once thought to be untouchable despite his anti-MAGA views, found himself fired just hours after criticizing management.David Ellison isn’t known to be particularly political, but the money behind his dealmaking, which includes his pending, $80 billion purchase of Warner Bros.
Discovery, comes from a man who is – his dad Larry Ellison, the billionaire co-founder of Oracle who also happens to be a longtime Trump pal. David is, above all, battle hardened, which made Pelley’s firing rather easy for him to approve, people close to him say.His takeover of Paramount in 2024 was a hard-fought war with the controlling Redstone family, the scions of late media tycoon Sumner Redstone.
Even harder fought was his recent hostile takeover of Warner Bros Discovery, which had a nearly signed deal to sell to Netflix.He and his pops believe they have earned their mandate to change CBS, and Scott Pelley can’t stand in their way.“There’s a new sheriff in town,” is how someone who deals with Weiss put it.“David just doesn’t give a f–k what they say about him in the media.”As reported, Pelley, a 37-year veteran of the news division and a marquee name at “60 Minutes,” went nuclear on Monday at a staff meeting against Weiss and her team for changes planned at the network that include less lefty bias in programming.What isn’t as well known is what happened in the lead up to the meeting.
Weiss wanted Pelley to be part...