Veteran CBS journalist Scott Pelley has publicly accused the new leadership of 60 Minutes of seeking favour with President Donald Trump. His allegations came after he was fired from the flagship news programme on June 2. The correspondent, who spent nearly four decades at the network, issued a scathing statement claiming the programme’s legacy is being sacrificed for political access.
Scott Pelley slams executive over favoring Donald Trump
Former CBS reporter Scott Pelley accused the new executive of 60 Minutes of “political bias” with Donald Trump’s administration. In a statement obtained by PEOPLE, Pelley wrote, “Now, the new owner of our network is casting this legend aside, apparently to curry a moment of favor with the Trump administration. The waste is heartbreaking.”
Pelley’s firing is an escalation in a bitter dispute that has engulfed the newsroom. On May 28, 60 Minutes fired correspondents Cecilia Vega and Sharyn Alfonsi, alongside executive producer Tanya Smith. CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss and president Tom Cibrowski replaced Smith with tech journalist Nick Bilton.
The confrontation came to a head on June 1 during a staff meeting where Bilton introduced himself. Pelley reportedly accused Weiss of “murdering” 60 Minutes and told Bilton he had “slender qualifications for this job.” A source close to leadership told the outlet that “Bari and Nick attempted to reach out to Scott to speak privately since last week. Despite efforts to do so, they have not spoken.” Bilton fired Pelley the following day. In a termination letter, he accused the anchor of “performative display[s] of hostility.” Bilton further claimed that Pelley had “no interest in contributing to the future success of the show.”
Pelley responded with grave claims about editorial interference in 60 Minutes. He alleged that new executives “instructed” him to “inject falsehoods and bias into a politically sensitive story” and to “include assertions that are unverified.” The former CBS journalist insisted he refused these instructions each time.
The journalist further claimed that politicians had been “invited” to select which correspondents interviewed them. “Last month, 60 Minutes lost its DNA when our entire senior leadership and two of our best on-air correspondents were cruelly fired without cause,” Scott Pelley stated. “Good people were silenced because they stood up for our audience. They stood for fairness against the forces of political bias; they stood for professionalism against chaos.”
Originally reported by Devanshi Basu on Mandatory.
