‘60 Minutes’ Correspondent Scott Pelley Accuses Bari Weiss of ‘Murdering’ the Show: Report

The new executive producer of CBS News’s “60 Minutes,” Nick Bilton, received a hostile welcome during his introductory meeting with the staff of the newsmagazine program, as one of its remaining correspondents, Scott Pelley, “relentlessly” grilled him and accused the network’s editor-in-chief, Bari Weiss, of “murdering” the program, according to a new report. On Monday, Mr. Bilton convened the staff of “60 Minutes” for an introductory meeting days after the newsmagazine program’s previous executive producer, Tanya Simon, the show’s executive editor, Draggan Mihailovich, and two correspondents, Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega, were fired. A media reporter, Oliver Darcy, wrote in his Status newsletter that he obtained an audio recording of the rancorous meeting. Mr. Bilton told CBS News staffers that Ms. Weiss “loves this institution” and “60 Minutes.” An “impassioned” Mr. Pelley — who made headlines last year after he delivered a rare on-air rebuke of his corporate bosses over their attempts to settle President Trump’s lawsuit against CBS — shot back, saying, “She’s murdering ‘60 Minutes.’”“She does not love this place. She was brought in to kill it — and she’s doing exactly that,” he said. Ms. Weiss was hired last year after Paramount merged with Skydance Media. The CEO of Skydance, David Ellison, tasked Ms. Weiss with shifting the network’s editorial voice to fulfill his company’s pledge of producing unbiased journalism. While “60 Minutes” has continued to air stories that have irked conservatives, Ms. Alfonsi and Ms. Vega have alleged in recent days that there have been incidents of corporate meddling in the network’s reporting. After her firing, Ms. Vega said in a statement that “censorship” at the network has been “imposed and self-driven.”Mr. Pelley said on Monday that Ms. Weiss’s overhaul of the “CBS Evening News” has been “catastrophic” and asked why the impending changes at “60 Minutes” would be “any better.”After saying that Mr. Bilton — a former columnist for the New York Times and documentarian — has “slender qualifications” to be the show’s executive producer, Mr. Pelley took issue with his references to the vision for “60 Minutes” laid out by its founder, Don Hewitt.“I have another question. Did you at any point work with Don Hewitt, telling everybody about what Don Hewitt thought and what his inspiration was? I worked for Don Hewitt from 1999 to 2004, and Lesley Stahl probably worked with him for 30 years. Just wondering how you have such deep insight?” he asked, according to quotes transcribed by Mr. Darcy. The interrogation continued despite efforts by Mr. Bilton and CBS News’s managing editor, Charles Forelle, to move on, with the latter accusing Mr. Pelley of being “rude” and saying his questions were “not actually productive.”Mr. Pelley repeatedly pressed Mr. Bilton on what he knew about the decision to fire his former colleagues, asking each time, “what was wrong” with them.Mr. Forelle once again tried to move on and told Mr. Pelley he was being rude. However, the longtime journalist responded, “I’m not being rude.”“You know what was rude? Black Thursday. That was the absolute definition of rudeness. Telling Tanya Simon she had to be out of here at five o’clock. Sending Draggan Mihailovich to HR to get fired, because nobody could look him in the eye. Not talking about Tanya’s contract. Not talking about Sharyn Alfonsi’s contract. Not talking about Cecilia Vega’s contract. Just calling them up and telling them they were fired. That’s rude,” he said.When Mr. Bilton said he wanted to “talk about what happens next” for the show, one staffer asked how the network would fill the holes left by the firings of Mses. Alfonsi and Vega, and the departure of Anderson Cooper, who left the show after roughly 20 years. Mr. Bilton sought to alleviate concerns from the staffer who said it “takes years” of development for someone to become a “60 Minutes” correspondent by saying the replacements “are not going to be new correspondents that have never done this before.”Mr. Pelley resumed his grilling, asking Mr. Bilton if he was “aware how (Black Thursday) was going to play out,” saying he finds it “odd that you would take this job knowing that you would never be welcomed here.”The new executive producer said he has “no problem” working where he is not welcome.“I have been a journalist for 25 years, Scott. I have sat and talked with incredibly powerful people like you have,” he said. “None of it intimidates me, OK? So you are not going to intimidate me in front of this group of people.”When asked if he believes it shows good judgment to take the job, Mr. Bilton said, “Yes, it does. The reason it takes good judgment is because I care so deeply about this institution, and I want to ensure that what happened to TIME magazine and all of these other institutions does not happen here.”Mr. Pelley quipped, “Well, we feel protected. That’s great. Thank you.”Despite being told he would “never” be welcome at “60 Minutes,” Mr. Bilton thanked the staff for “graciously being so welcoming.”CBS News did not respond to the Sun’s request for comment by the time of publication.

‘60 Minutes’ Correspondent Scott Pelley Accuses Bari Weiss of ‘Murdering’ the Show: Report

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