Report: Scott Pelley of 60 Minutes accuses CBS News head Bari Weiss of murdering the show
NEW YORK (AP) — CBS’ top-rated “60 Minutes” correspondent Scott Pelley accused CBS News president Bari Weiss of “killing the show” and accused his new producer of being “poorly qualified” for the job, according to reports.
Pelley made her accusations Monday at an introductory meeting last week between newsmagazine staff and new executive producer Nick Bilton, whom Weiss named. Status websiteHe said he listened to recordings of the meeting. Weiss himself was not there, according to the report. Status specializes in media news and analysis.
Pelley, a longtime “60 Minutes” reporter, began questioning Bilton at the 10 a.m. meeting, Status reported. Bilton’s predecessor, Tanya Simon, and reporters Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega were fired last week. Status also reported that Pelley told Bilton, a former tech journalist and filmmaker with no traditional broadcast news experience, that his qualifications for the position were “poor.”
According to Status, Pelley also accused Weiss that he was “not qualified at all for his job” and said the changes Pelley made to the “CBS Evening News,” where he once reported, were “a disaster.”
He added that Bilton insisted that “At least he loves this institution” and “he loves ’60 Minutes'”; Pelley responded: “‘He kills 60 minutes.’ He doesn’t like this place. “He was brought in to kill her and that’s exactly what he’s doing.”
Two spokespersons for CBS News did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
But a person close to CBS News management who spoke on condition of anonymity told The Associated Press that both Weiss and Bilton reached out to Pelley late last week when the changes shook the 57-year-old series, trying to tell him he was an integral part of “60 Minutes” and wanted to keep it that way.
The person said they felt it was disappointing that Weiss and Bilton’s accusations were made public despite their efforts to contact Pelley privately.
The New York Times, which reported that it also listened to the recording of Monday’s meeting, noted that Pelley’s “news anchor baritone” trembled during the meeting. The newspaper also quoted an unnamed executive at the meeting as saying Weiss was ready to come, but “we asked him not to come.”
News of the controversial meeting came four days after Weiss, who has become a polarizing figure in the media world since taking the helm of 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 to “build a program that will succeed in the 21st century.”
“This requires a new approach,” they wrote, describing that approach as “expanding ’60 Minutes’ beyond its one-hour telecast, deepening its role at CBS News, and imbuing everything we produce with the ambition, fairness and fearlessness that best define ’60 Minutes.'”
They said Bilton “embodies the energy and ambition that animated the show’s founders. We couldn’t imagine a better fit.”
The status report noted that Pelley was applauded multiple times by other staff members during the meeting. Pelley reportedly focused on the layoffs last week, calling them cruel.
Bilton reportedly said he wasn’t intimidated. “I’ve been a journalist for 25 years, Scott,” Status said. “I’ve sat down and talked to incredibly powerful people like you. None of this scares me, okay? So you can’t scare me in front of this group of people.”
