CBS News editor in chief Bari Weiss and fired correspondent Scott Pelley traded barbs on Wednesday morning through the press, with Pelley calling Weiss’ characterization of their meeting before his firing “disingenuous.”
Weiss defended the organization’s decision to fire correspondent Pelley on a Wednesday morning call with staffers, saying that Pelley broke a foundation of “trust and mutual respect” when he railed against Weiss and new executive producer Nick Bilton during a staff-wide meeting on Monday.
“Before we get into it, I need to address what’s transpired in our newsroom over the past two days and what is making news,” Weiss told staffers at the beginning of the conference call, TheWrap has learned. “I know I speak for myself, and I hope I speak for everyone here, when I say that I’m only interested in working in a newsroom that is built on trust and mutual respect. We cannot do our work without it.”
Weiss continued: “That foundation was broken on Monday, and despite our attempts to engage with Scott Pelley and to find a way back, unfortunately we weren’t able to do so, and so we had to part ways.”
The editor in chief thanked Pelley for his contributions, but asserted that his termination was “the path he chose.”
“We did not want that to happen, but that’s the path that he chose. That unfortunate outcome does not discount from the amazing contributions and work that Scott Pelley has done for CBS and for 60 Minutes over the course of his career,” she said.
Pelley shot back on Wednesday morning, saying Weiss lied about their meeting.
“I’m saddened to see the transcript of the CBS News morning editorial meeting. Bari Weiss knows what she said is not true,” he said in a statement. “In the meeting on Tuesday, in which I was effectively fired, there was no effort of any kind to ‘find a way back,’ as Weiss said in the editorial meeting. At no point did anyone in the Tuesday meeting suggest that there could be steps taken by either side that would lead to a resolution. Weiss and Tom Cibrowski were openly hostile from the start. ‘Firing’ was raised by Cibrowski in the first 15 seconds. No CBS executive, at any time, suggested ‘a way back.’ To say so now is disingenuous. And they know it.”
Pelley said Weiss, Cibrowski and Nick Bilton “refused to answer my questions” in the meeting, in which he says he pressed them on why they fired several “60 Minutes” staffers the previous week. He then offered a blow-by-blow account:
“I asked Weiss a number of questions about why she fired the entire senior staff of 60 Minutes a few days before and without cause.
‘I’m not answering that question,’ she said.
I asked why she did not come to 60 Minutes’ offices to explain her actions.
‘I’m not answering that question.‘
Why did she fire 60 Minutes Executive Producer Tanya Simon?
‘I’m not answering that question.‘
Why fire correspondent Cecilia Vega?
‘I’m not answering that question.’
Why fire correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi?
‘I’m not answering that question.‘
Throughout the meeting, the CBS executives were abrupt, dismissive and uninterested in dialogue. Suddenly, and to my surprise, Cibrowski declared, ‘This conversation is over!’
‘Why?’ I asked. ‘I’m happy to answer your questions.’
‘This conversation is over!’ Cibrowski repeated, raising his voice and standing to show me the door.
‘I’m happy to keep talking,’ I added.
No constructive dialogue was allowed by the CBS executives at any point. I was stonewalled for about 10 minutes and then, for no apparent reason, ‘This conversation is over.’”
Pelley concluded his statement by saying the new executives in charge of CBS News can’t gain the staff’s trust.
“I am pained that the staff of CBS News was misled in the Wednesday morning conference call. These executives cannot gain the trust of the staff with lies. This is antithetical to everything we stand for and reveals contempt for what journalists do.”
The former “CBS Evening News” anchor put Weiss on blast in a heated meeting Monday morning after last week’s dismissal of executive producer Tanya Simon and a number of correspondents, including “Inside CECOT” journalist Sharyn Alfonsi.
“She’s murdering ‘60 Minutes.’ She does not love this place,” Pelley said, according to leaked audio, interrupting a staff meeting with Simon’s replacement, Bilton. “She was brought in to kill it and is doing exactly that.”
Pelley also took aim squarely at Bilton, locking horns with the incoming executive producer. On Tuesday evening, after a sitdown with Pelley, Bilton announced that he was being terminated for cause.
“Your antipathy to the future of the show has come through loud and clear,” “60 Minutes” executive producer Nick Bilton wrote in a letter sent to Pelley. “And I have heard you. I therefore write on behalf of CBS News to inform you that your employment with CBS is terminated for cause effective immediately.”
Pelley released a lengthy note of his own on Tuesday evening, accusing Paramount CEO David Ellison of meddling with CBS to “curry favor” with Donald Trump.
“Now, the new owner of our network is casting this legend aside, apparently to curry a moment of favor with the Trump administration. The waste is heartbreaking.” Ellison’s Paramount Skydance is currently seeking final approval from Trump’s Department of Justice over the Warner Bros. Discovery merger.
