CBS Evening News anchor Tony Dokoupil honored Scott Pelley after he was fired by CBS News leadership. Dokoupil lavished praise on the former 60 Minutes correspondent. Notably, editor-in-chief Bari Weiss and Nick Bilton are the ones who promoted Dokoupil to anchor of CBS Evening News in December.
CBS Evening News anchor pays tribute to Scott Pelley following his exit
CBS Evening News anchor Tony Dokoupil had only kind words for Scott Pelley, who was fired from his job on June 2. Dokoupil paid tribute to Pelley on Wednesday’s broadcast of the Daily News program (via Entertainment Weekly).
Dokoupil shared, “When I started at CBS, Scott Pelley was in this very chair, and still doing a dozen stories a year for 60 Minutes. And amid all of that, still meeting every new correspondent to share his view of the mission here.”
Continuing further, he stated, “[Pelley] believed freedom of the press, to quote [James Madison], was ‘the right that guaranteed all the others.’ And the stakes are always that high in that, if you’d made it to CBS News, you were among the best in the world. He worked every single day to live up to that standard.”
CBS reportedly dismissed its long-time 60 Minutes correspondent Pelley after he slammed the network’s new leadership. Pelley berated editor-in-chief Bari Weiss and expressed critical views of her leadership and working style in a fiery meeting on Monday, June 1. The 68-year-old reputed journalist accused Weiss of “murdering” 60 Minutes and claimed that she was “brought in to kill it and is doing exactly that.”
Moreover, Pelley did not spare the newly appointed executive producer, Nick Bilton. Pelley told Bilton that he had “slender” qualifications for the job and that he would “never be welcome here” (via Entertainment Weekly and The New York Post).
Notably, Pelley is the fourth correspondent to leave 60 Minutes since February. These controversial exits have come following Skydance Media’s acquisition of CBS’ parent company, Paramount Global, in October. Notably, Skydance Media is a conglomerate owned by the Trump-aligned Ellison family.
