Lesley Stahl, Bill Whitaker, and Jon Wertheim are staying back at CBS’s 60 Minutes following the abrupt removal of multiple senior correspondents, including Scott Pelley. In a memo to their colleagues at the program, they wrote, “We want to stay and fight.”
Lesley Stahl, Bill Whitaker, and Jon Wertheim will remain at 60 Minutes so it doesn’t “die” after disruption
The three wrote, as reported by Variety, “We have had a hard time deciding whether to stay at 60 Minutes. We’re still deeply upset by the firings of Tanya and Draggan, strong leaders whom everyone respected. As far as we can tell — because no explanation has ever been offered, they were expelled because they fought for our ’60 Minutes’ values and stood up to protect our independence and integrity.”
The journalists continued by saying, “Newsrooms are not supposed to be run like dictatorships. Collaboration and argument are the way we have always worked at ’60.’ Don Hewitt actually encouraged loud passionate advocacy for our pieces.”
They further expressed that they don’t want to see “60 Minutes die,” saying they have been grieving as the controversy has damaged the broadcast. They said they want to remain and fight to repair and preserve its reputation.
On June 2, the longtime 60 Minutes correspondent Pelley, who had been part of the program since 2004, was reportedly fired by new executive producer Nick Bilton. Pelley addressed his firing via an Instagram post, writing, “There has never been anything in America like 60 Minutes.”
CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss also fired both Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega. Vega, who was fired on May 28, wrote on Instagram that she and producers had “experienced efforts to insert political bias” into stories. The Writers Guild of America East Head criticized Paramount-owned CBS News for what he called “cruel and needless layoffs,” reports Variety.
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