Scott Pelley accuses CBS News leadership of political bias and incompetence in his first sit-down interview since being fired from the network.
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Former"60 Minutes" correspondent Scott Pelley accused CBS News leadership of political bias and incompetence in his first sit-down interview since he was"60 Minutes" staffers and installed tech journalist Nick Bilton as the program’s new executive producer under CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss. CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss and new"60 Minutes" executive producer Nick Bilton told longtime correspondent Scott Pelley to remain on the program before he criticized his bosses at a staff meeting, a source told Fox News Digital.
CBS NEWS CHIEFS TOLD SCOTT PELLEY THEY WANTED HIM TO STAY ON '60 MINUTES' BEFORE TENSE CLASH WITH NEW PRODUCER "This is our entire senior staff," Pelley said.
"Tanya Simon, our boss, she’s the first woman ever to be executive producer of ‘60 Minutes. ’ And she concluded this season with a growth in our audience of 9%, which is unheard-of in broadcast television, and a growth of our online presence of 190%.
" Pelley said he canceled a planned trip with his wife to attend Bilton's first staff meeting, where he objected to Bilton reading remarks from his phone after the firings. Pelley criticized Bari Weiss’ handling of CBS News and argued she lacked the television experience needed to lead the network. Pelley also accused Weiss of interfering in a February"60 Minutes" story about protests in Minneapolis against an ICE crackdown.
He said Weiss asked for changes after the story had already been approved by top editors and after the show’s Sunday deadline.
"The video showed that the officer wasn’t standing in front of the car, and she wasn’t driving toward him, but that’s what the president said about that, and that’s the way she wanted it described," 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," Pelley said.
He said his larger concern was the lack of television experience among CBS News' leadership, particularly Bari Weiss.
"Television’s not her thing," Pelley said of Weiss. "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.
""In an email, Bari made four points in the course of editorial back-and-forth," a CBS News spokesperson told The Times. "They hadThe network also denied Pelley's broader allegation that Weiss was acting on behalf of the Trump administration. "There is no credible argument to suggest Ms. Weiss was ‘putting a thumb on the scale on behalf of the administration’ in any instance over the past seven months," a CBS News spokesperson said.
CJ joined Fox News Digital's team in 2026, which highlights the vital role journalism plays in shaping politics and culture. He has years of experience analyzing and reporting on the news media. CJ graduated from Long Beach State University in 2025 with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and a minor in Journalism.
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