Scott Pelley Fired from CBS's '60 Minutes' Over Leadership Dispute

Veteran journalist Scott Pelley was dismissed from CBS’s flagship newsmagazine “60 Minutes” on June 2 after publicly criticizing the network’s new leadership, including news chief Bari Weiss and executive producer Nick Bilton. In his statement, Pelley alleged that the management was directing him to add unverified, politically biased content to stories and that the changes were driven by an effort to gain favor with the Trump administration, amid Paramount owner David Ellison’s pending $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery.

CBS officials said the firing was “with cause,” describing Pelley’s behavior as hostile. Pelley thanked supporters on Instagram, sharing a photo of himself on a boat and a poem from John Masefield, which attracted nearly 24,000 likes. Colleagues Lesley Stahl, Bill Whitaker and Jon Wertheim announced they would stay on the program for now, while the possibility of legal action by Pelley and other former correspondents remains under observation.