Former 60 Minutes correspondent Steve Kroft has slammed CBS News for firing veteran anchor Scott Pelley and other staff members. The 80-year-old retired journalist said, “I think it’s been disastrous for the show, for the audience, which is not insubstantial.”
Steve Kroft weighs in on how the CBS exodus impacts both 60 Minutes and the viewers
In an interview with PBS News’ Geoff Bennett on June 3, Kroft, who worked as a 60 Minutes correspondent from 1989 to 2019, said, “This is journalistic interference. It makes no business sense whatsoever. It’s the highest-rated news program on television, and it has been that way for more than 50 years. The audience was up about nine percent last year. Why would you mess with that? It’s got an audience of about 10 million people—between 9 and 10 million people—which is still one of the largest audiences on network television.”
He also discussed the major changes, including the firings of Pelley, Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega under new CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss. He said, “I think it’s been disastrous — for the show, for the audience, which is not insubstantial. It’s been going on for a long time. It began, really, with an interview that Bill Whitaker had done with Kamala Harris in which CBS was sued for $17 million by the Trump administration for what they called an ‘illegal edit.’ The lawsuit had absolutely no merit, yet CBS and Paramount decided to settle the case for $17 million. And since then, it’s just been sort of one thing after another.”
On June 2, Pelley, who had been part of 60 Minutes since 2004, was reportedly fired by new executive producer Nick Bilton. The anchor responded to the firing, as reported by Deadline, saying, “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.” He added, “The leadership of 60 Minutes is no longer recognizable. The principles I hold dear are gone, and so I must leave as well.”
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