Scott Pelley has been one of the most respected names in American broadcast journalism for more than three decades. He spent 37 years at CBS News. He won 51 Emmy Awards. He reported from the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 as the North Tower collapsed around him. His work at 60 Minutes helped define what serious television journalism could look like.
CBS fired him on June 2nd.
The termination came the day after Pelley confronted the show’s new executive producer Nick Bilton at a heated staff meeting. Bilton, a former technology journalist installed by CBS News chief Bari Weiss, sent Pelley a letter that same evening informing him his employment was terminated for cause effective immediately. The letter noted that Pelley’s antipathy to the future of the show had come through loud and clear.
Now Pelley has spoken publicly for the first time since being fired, and what he has said is exactly what CBS News leadership did not want to see in print.
In an emotional New York Times interview published this week, Pelley accused Weiss of directly interfering with a 60 Minutes report on immigration protests in Minneapolis, alleging that she pushed for what he described as the president’s version of events. He stated plainly that in 37 years at CBS News he had never experienced that level of political influence from within the organization.
Pelley also described the broader context that he believes explains everything. CBS’s parent company Paramount settled a lawsuit brought by President Trump in 2025 for 16 million dollars, a settlement that many critics described as a bribe designed to smooth the path for Paramount’s merger with David Ellison’s Skydance Media. That merger required government approval. The approval came. And then Bari Weiss was installed as CBS News chief.
Pelley said he wants Weiss removed from her position. He called CBS News on fire. He said publicly what many inside the organization have apparently been feeling privately for months.
He is the fourth 60 Minutes reporter to leave the program since February. Lesley Stahl, Bill Whitaker and Jon Wertheim are what remains of a once dominant team.
