Opinion | Scott Pelley accuses CBS News leadership of favoring the Trump administration – Poynter
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“CBS News is on fire.”
That’s the assessment from veteran journalist Scott Pelley, who was fired from the network and his job at “60 Minutes” last week after an explosive meeting with his new boss.
In the first interview since his controversial firing last week, Pelley spoke with The New York Times’ Lulu Garcia-Navarro and continued to make serious allegations about network leadership. He also went over in detail what led to the fiery meeting last week with new “60 Minutes” executive producer Nick Bilton, a former New York Times technology columnist and documentary filmmaker who has no real experience in traditional TV news.
In Bilton’s introductory meeting with staff, Pelley questioned his qualifications. He also questioned the qualifications of CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss, who had also never worked in television news before being hired last year. Weiss was brought in by David Ellison, chair of Paramount, CBS’s parent company, and an ally of the Trump administration. During the meeting, Pelley accused Weiss of “murdering” the legendary TV news program.
A day after the meeting, Pelley, who had been at CBS News for 37 years, was fired.
Pelley told Garcia-Navarro that he felt it was his responsibility to speak out following all the changes Weiss made at “60 Minutes,” which also included the firing of correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega.
Pelley said, “I looked at my friends and colleagues in the room and realized I was the senior person. … I felt that somebody had to stand up not just for the broadcast but for the people. There are people in that room who go to war zones when they are pregnant.”
Pelley teared up and added, “Newsrooms are sort of like the military or the police or the beautiful people at the FDNY down the street. It is a life-threatening job in many instances. And to have people running CBS News, who don’t know that, have never felt that, and don’t understand it, is a tragedy.”
Pelley said he was angry before even stepping into the initial meeting with Bilton because of an email he sent to staff a few days prior.
Pelley said, “And it was so insulting. He told us that it wasn’t 1968 anymore, and he helpfully noted that gasoline doesn’t cost 32 cents anymore, suggested that we had all been frozen in amber in 1968 when the program first went on the air, and that nothing had improved. He said in his email that it was ‘strange’ that ‘60 Minutes’ is only on the air at 7 o’clock Eastern time on Sunday once a week, when we’ve been on the air 24-7 globally, online, for well over a decade. It betrayed the fact that Nick Bilton didn’t know anything about us, didn’t know anything about our culture, and yet was being imposed on us as our new leader.”
As the interview progressed, Pelley made serious charges, accusing Weiss of trying to insert political bias into a story about Renee Good and Alex Pretti, two U.S. citizens killed by federal immigration agents in Minnesota during immigration enforcement protests earlier this year.
Pelley said, “We get the piece approved by everyone. And about four hours after our deadline, Bari Weiss sends an email to my boss, Tanya Simon. Two of the things in the email include: Can we make the protesters look more violent? Now, I’m paraphrasing. I don’t have the quote, but that’s what was communicated to me. And the other thing, Renee Good’s car — you need to describe her as driving toward the officer.”
Pelley said what many people have argued — which is that the video does not show Good driving toward the officer.
For the record, a CBS News representative told the Times, “In an email, Bari made four points in the course of editorial back-and-forth. They had no political motivation and were proposed solely to make the piece as strong, fair and accurate as possible. As is frequently the case in any newsroom that operates with collaboration, not everything she raised made it into the final piece.”
When asked by Garcia-Navarro why Weiss was asking for changes to the protesters story, Pelley said, “I need to be a little bit careful here because I don’t want to be hyperbolic. My impression at the time was that she was putting a thumb on the scale on behalf of the administration. Constantly looking out for the views of the president. We’re reporting those views. There’s nothing wrong with reporting those views, but it was never enough.”
At another point in the interview, Pelley said, “There was a thumb on the scale for the president’s version of events that I felt was a level of political influence that I had never seen in 37 years at CBS News.”
A CBS spokesperson said there was “no credible argument” to suggest that Weiss was “putting a thumb on the scale on behalf of the administration” since she became editor-in-chief.
Pelley talked to Garcia-Navarro at length about the other correspondents who are leaving, as well as those who are staying: Lesley Stahl, Bill Whitaker and Jon Wertheim. They also discussed the meeting in which he was fired, the departure of Anderson Cooper as a correspondent, and many other topics too detailed to recount here. (You really should read or watch it for yourself.)
Then Garcia-Navarro asked Pelley whether he thought Weiss should be removed as editor-in-chief.
He said, “Oh, gosh, yes. Look, she’s a lovely person. And her Free Press organization that she founded has been very successful. But television’s not her thing. This is like somebody walking up to me and saying, ‘There’s a 747, there are 400 people on it, we need you to fly it to Paris.’ I’m going to decline because I don’t have a clue. And it would have been so much better if Bari Weiss had been offered this job and said, ‘Oh, that’s not for me, I don’t know how to do that.’”
As I just mentioned, it appears that Lesley Stahl, Bill Whitaker and Jon Wertheim are staying on as correspondents at “60 Minutes.”
After much discussion and consideration, the three sent a joint email to staff saying, “Here’s why we are staying: We don’t want to see ‘60 Minutes’ die.”
The three wrote they were “deeply upset” about the firing of executive producer Tanya Simon and executive editor Draggan Mihailovich, as well as the firings of their fellow correspondents.
They wrote, “We want to express how sorry we are that these principled, fair and honest journalists were treated so shabbily, with such indecency. Tanya deserves to be celebrated, not cruelly cast off. Draggan too. It’s been heartbreaking.”
They also wrote, “Newsrooms are not supposed to be run like dictatorships. Collaboration and argument are the way we have always worked at 60.”
After all the turmoil that resulted in their show essentially being blown up, the three remaining correspondents made it clear that their staying was not an “endorsement of the existing power structure.”
They wrote, “That is simply, categorically not the case.”
They added that they are grieving what has happened, but, “We want to stay and fight, try to repair and preserve our reputation.”
They said they were encouraged by a letter from Bilton promising “independence.” They added that if they could continue doing the work they’ve always done, they would remain.
“If not,” they wrote, “we leave.”
President Donald Trump, left, being interviewed by “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker in Wisconsin. (Courtesy: NBC News)
Normally, President Donald Trump throwing a temper tantrum and getting huffy and puffy with the media is nothing new.
But Sunday was a little extra — even for Trump. He stormed out of an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker. The interview was conducted Friday. It took place in a barn in Wisconsin, near where Trump was meeting with farmers.
Welker asked Trump about the $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund that the administration seems to be waffling on. As Trump danced around, attacking former President Joe Biden and “left lunatics,” Welker pressed him, asking, “Do you think anyone who attacked police officers on Jan. 6 should get taxpayer money?”
That set off a wild back-and-forth exchange in which Trump talked about “dirty cops” and said, “They had FBI agents ushering them into the building. They had FBI (saying), ‘Go into the building.’ Those people are walking around, they’re looking, ‘Oh, isn’t this nice?’ … They were being ushered into the building.”
Welker, as she should have, challenged Trump, interrupting him to accurately point out, “There’s no evidence of that, sir. There’s no evidence of that.”
They continued to go back and forth, with Trump eventually returning to his common theme of stolen elections. Again, Welker would not let Trump make unproven allegations, saying he had no evidence to back up his claims. Talking about California election officials, Trump flew off the rails and said, “They’re crooked just like you’re crooked, your press is crooked. And ‘Meet the Press’ is crooked.” He also called ABC, CBS and CNN crooked.
Welker said, “To be fair, I’m not crooked.”
Trump said, “Really? Well, you play right into their hands then. You’re either crooked or you’re stupid.”
Eventually, Trump couldn’t take it anymore and said, “Let’s call it quits because I’ve had enough. Thank you, darling. Have a good time.”
Welker tried to get him to stay, but Trump walked off. (Here’s video of the walkoff and the moments before it.)
Status’ Natalie Korach noted, “In the four minutes prior to Trump abruptly walking out, Welker fact-checked him more than a dozen times on his false claims about the 2020 election and January 6.”
Again, it’s troubling to think that if a journalist — even a tough one such as Welker — can rattle Trump that easily by simply stating the facts, how does Trump do in dealing with other world leaders?
But what is encouraging out of this interview was the poise, professionalism and acuity of Welker, who did a top-notch job with Trump.
Following the interview, NBC News’ Jane C. Timm posted: “Fact-checking Trump’s interview with NBC News’ ‘Meet the Press.’”
The World Cup gets underway this week.
For the next month and a half, North America becomes the center of the sporting world as 48 teams from across the globe visit to compete in the world’s biggest sporting event. The final will be held on July 19 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
In the latest episode of “The Poynter Report Podcast,” I speak with Laura Williamson, The Athletic’s editor-in-chief for the U.K. and Europe, who is helping lead that outlet’s World Cup coverage.
It’s a daunting undertaking. We’re talking about 104 games across the 16 host cities in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. The Athletic will have more than 100 full-time soccer journalists writing stories for The Athletic’s website, as well as producing work for social media, newsletters and podcasts.
Williamson told me, “We talk about sporting moments, but this is just unlike anything that the company has ever done before. I was in Qatar for the duration of the tournament in 2022 and it’s just such a different animal, because you could go to four games in a day, you know. You can’t go to six across three countries this time around.”
For the 2022 World Cup, The Athletic had 21 accredited journalists on the ground. That is an impressive number. But it’s nothing compared to the resources The Athletic is putting into this year’s event.
And it’s not just about soccer. The World Cup is a social, cultural and political phenomenon.
Williamson and I discussed the incredible planning that goes into covering such an event, what The Athletic has in store each day, how sports fans consume news these days, and how soccer and sports coverage has changed.
Aside from watching on YouTube, you can also find the show on Apple, Spotify, and most places where you find podcasts.
MS NOW’s Ali Velshi, signing off his weekend show for the final time on Sunday. (Courtesy: MS NOW)
Ali Velshi signed off his MS NOW weekend show for the final time on Sunday. After hosting on weekends for the past six and a half years, Velshi is moving to 11 p.m. Eastern on weekdays starting June 15.
His sign-off Sunday was an emotional, lengthy defense of journalism.
Velshi told viewers, “Journalism starts with bearing witness. Journalism is the decision made every single day by people who could be doing something safer and more lucrative, to go to the place where something is happening, to look at it directly, to describe it as honestly as language allows, and to make sure the people who were not there, who cannot be there, or who have deliberately kept away from there, know what happened. That’s it. That’s the whole of it.”
Velshi mentioned legendary journalists such as Ida B. Wells, Edward R. Murrow, Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein and Walter Cronkite, among others.
He said, “The press is not the enemy of the people. The press is the people’s guarantee that they will know what is done in their name. Some of the institutions that taught this country what bearing witness looks like are right now under pressure from, or perhaps in bed with this administration. And that is not a coincidence.”
Velshi also alluded to the rich tradition of CBS News and warned about what he sees as the current administration’s hostility toward the press.
Velshi said, “It’s pretty simple. They’re trying to make the witnesses afraid to speak while they prevent the press from reporting on what’s really going on. A network they can sue. A public broadcaster they can defund. A civil servant they can silence. Each one is someone who might otherwise tell you something that the powerful would prefer that you never knew. That’s why bearing witness has never mattered more than it does right now.”
Have feedback or a tip? Email Poynter senior media writer Tom Jones at tjones@poynter.org.
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