Scott Pelley says Bari Weiss wanted 60 Minutes to say Renee Good was ‘driving toward officer’ | CBS

Fired 60 Minutes host Scott Pelley accused CBS editorial management of interfering with his broadcast. a broadcast division Following the killing of Minneapolis protester Renee Good by an immigration officer in January.

The veteran broadcaster, who was recently dismissed from the show, said CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss sent an email to her superior requesting the change shortly before the episode in question aired.

In an interview with the New York Times On Sunday, Pelley, 68, accused Weiss of introducing “inaccuracy and bias” into the programming.

“Two things in the email include: ‘Can we make the protesters look more violent?'” Pelley told the press. Now I’m starting to summarize. I don’t have the quote but this is what was forwarded to me. And the other thing is Renee Good’s car. “You would have to describe him as a person heading towards the police.”

Pelley argued that was the instruction contained in the email, even though the video of Good’s shooting did not support such a conclusion.

A CBS News spokesperson told the Times that in response to Pelley’s remarks, Weiss made four points about the segment in an email exchange that were “not politically motivated and were offered solely to make the piece as strong, fair, and accurate as possible.”

“Not everything he upgraded made it to the final piece,” the statement added.

Pelley’s accusation comes at a tumultuous time for the flagship TV news program, where 60 Minutes executive producer Tanya Simon has been replaced and many reporters and producers are leaving questions of editorial independence behind. Three of the show’s veterans – Lesley Stahl, Bill Whitaker and Jon Wertheim – remain.

Newly appointed executive producer Nick Bilton, a former Vanity Fair journalist and filmmaker, said in a memo to staff: “Journalistic independence is the foundation of 60 Minutes.

“We will always pursue stories without fear or favor.”

Pelley’s accusations against the Times came after a heated argument at a meeting on Monday, accusing Weiss of “murdering” the show. He was fired soon after.

In his latest salvo, Pelley said he was concerned that Weiss “has zero television experience and has never run a large global operation like CBS News.” He also described his lack of TV news experience as “red flags for me.”

Pelley also said Bilton’s mission to modernize the 58-year-old show ignores changes already in place.

“Of course we need to reach an increasingly younger audience, but their claims about joining the internet age are disingenuous,” Pelley said. “It’s like Bari Weiss and Nick Bilton were locked in a time capsule in 1990 and it suddenly opened. They just discovered the internet and are going around telling everyone how important this is.”

Pelley’s accusations against the Minneapolis segment focused in part on what happened in the seconds before Good was shot by an immigration officer.

“In the video you see the officer standing some distance away from the front of the car,” Pelley told the Times. “You clearly see Ms. Good’s wheels turning as far as they can go, as far away from the officer as possible. But the officer shoots her in the head.” [and] It kills him.”

Pelley also mentioned publicly released cellphone video taken from the officer’s vantage point, recording him calling Good a “fucking bitch.”

As Pelley put it, the officer said “something about him that I cannot repeat in a polite environment.”

Pelley said 60 Minutes “went outside of our plan from the very beginning to show the protesters the responsibility they have…somehow that wasn’t enough for Ms. Weiss.”

He added that video of the shooting showed the officer did not stop in front of the car and “did not move toward it.” He argued that Weiss “wanted it to be described that way” because it reflected what Donald Trump had said about the shooting in his capacity as president.

Pelley was asked to respond to Weiss’ claim that he was “putting his thumb on the scale on behalf of the company.” [Trump] CBS News said there was “no credible argument” to suggest he did so.