CBS News editor Bari Weiss officially breaks her silence on Scott Pelley’s 60 Minutes exit. Pelley was fired from the network earlier this week after openly berating the programme’s newly installed leadership.
Following his exit, Pelley alleged that the show had “lost its DNA” after Paramount Skydance installed a new editorial team.
What did the CBS News boss say about the 60 Minutes firing?
In a conference call with CBS News staffers (via Variety), Weiss defended Pelley’s firing by saying that “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. We did not want that to happen, but that’s the path that he chose.”
Tom Cibrowski, executive editor of CBS News, also commented on the matter, saying, “Scott was an integral part of ’60 Minutes,’ ‘CBS Evening News,’ this entire news organization for decades.” Cibrowski also noted that Pelley’s “incredible body of work” will “always be part of the history of CBS News, and you will miss Scott very much.”
“I’m saddened to see the transcript of the CBS News morning editorial meeting,” Pelley replied in a statement. “Bari Weiss knows what she said is not true. 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.”
Pelley added that CBS News leadership was “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. In fact, Weiss, Cibrowski and Nick Bilton refused to answer my questions.”
Originally reported by Rahul Majumdar on ComingSoon.net.
