The internal crisis in the investigative program “60 Minutes”

During an editorial board meeting on Monday, Scott Pelley, a longtime reporter for the investigative program “60 Minutes,” was sharply critical of CBS News Editor-in-Chief Barry Weiss. He accused her of “killing” the long-standing and respected news program. He also criticized her decision to appoint Nick Bilton as the show’s new executive producer.

According to sources privy to the details, Weiss and other executives at the network discussed in the hours after Pele’s statements how they should respond. The managers believed that Peli’s behavior constituted a serious breach of discipline that might justify his dismissal, but finally decided to talk to him about his future on the network. David Ellison, chief executive of Paramount, the parent company of CBS, spoke with Weiss about how she intends to have that conversation, according to people familiar with the matter.

The tense circumstances surrounding Pele’s departure reflect a broader crisis at CBS News and its flagship program. Recently departed 60 Minutes reporters have accused the network of making politically motivated systemic decisions as Paramount works to complete its merger deal with rival media company Warner Bros. Discovery. A CBS spokesman said that “there is no political interference in CBS News, neither by the owners of the company nor by Barry Weiss”, and added that exchanges between editors and reporters are an acceptable thing.

Pelley appeared agitated when he entered the office of CBS News President Tom Cibrowski on Tuesday evening, according to a person who saw him. Sibrowski was waiting for him there along with Weiss, Bilton and representatives of the human resources department. A few hours later, at the end of a meeting that turned into a tense confrontation, the reporter was fired for conduct that the company considered a breach of discipline. The crisis has become so acute that Shapeli and the network even disagree on what actually happened during the meeting.

“No way was found to move forward together”

In the network’s daily editorial call, which was held on Wednesday at 9:00 am, Weiss referred to Pele’s dismissal. “I’m only interested in working in a newsroom based on trust and mutual respect,” she said, according to a recording of her remarks reviewed by the Wall Street Journal. According to her, the management tried to have a conversation with Peli “to find a way to move forward together”, but was unable to do so, and therefore had to part with him.

Peli, who worked at CBS for 37 years, said on Wednesday that network executives did not offer solutions that might have led to a settlement of the dispute, and that from the beginning of the meeting held the previous evening, they showed “open hostility” towards him. He added that Weiss’s words at the board meeting that morning were misleading.

At the beginning of the meeting on Tuesday, Sibrovsky told Pelley that behind him is a long legacy at “60 Minutes,” and that the network’s management is interested in talking with him about “the way to establish respectful communication and move on,” according to a person privy to the details.

Thus ended another stormy week at CBS News. In the last six days she broke up The network’s flagship program, “60 Minutes”, from three senior and prominent reporters, replaced its top editor and production, and even ignited an internal revolt among the employees. Of the show’s writers, who introduce themselves to viewers at the beginning of each episode, there are now only three left: Leslie Stahl, John Wertheim and Bill Whittaker.

Weiss has made significant changes to the team of anchors and reporters, content and operations of CBS News since her appointment to the position, after Paramount acquired its news and opinion platform The Free Press for $150 million. However, the systemic decisions she made, along with the difficulties of adapting to her position as a television director, aroused the anger of many of the old employees, especially at “60 Minutes”. The confrontations between Weiss’ deputies and the show’s stars gradually turned into a fight for the show’s future and identity.

The last season of “60 Minutes” recorded a 9% increase in the number of viewers compared to last year, according to Nielsen data.

Weiss’s supporters see her strategy at CBS as a painful but necessary overhaul of an outdated news organization’s adaptation to the competition of the modern media age, where the erosion of public trust and the fragmentation of viewing audiences make it difficult for traditional broadcasters. On the other hand, her critics claim that her decisions are driven by political considerations and further damage the credibility of the news network, which in the past enjoyed great success. “There’s no doubt that the CBS News brand has been hit hard lately,” said Michael Sokolow, a former television journalist and now a professor of communication and journalism at the University of Maine. “The real question is whether it can be rehabilitated.”

The shakeup at CBS News comes at a critical time for Paramount, the network’s parent company, which is working to complete its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, which also owns CNN. The deal may be closed already during the summer.

New owner

CBS News used to be considered the jewel in the crown of the network that was called the “Tiffany Network”. At a time when the main newscasts and the morning shows on commercial television are suffering from a decrease in the number of viewers – due to the fragmentation of the audiences and the shift to consuming news from a variety of sources – the decrease in the viewing figures for CBS is particularly sharp.

Ratings for CBS’s primetime news and morning shows are generally lower than those of competitors ABC and NBC. The cable giant Fox News also attracts viewers from all the broadcast networks. The parent company of Fox News, Fox Corp, and the parent company of the Wall Street Journal, News Corp, are jointly owned.

When she was appointed editor-in-chief of CBS News, Weiss said she and Ellison shared a desire to provide “news that reflects reality” and journalism that “doesn’t seek to demonize, but to understand.”

Weiss came to CBS News at a sensitive time. The chain faced waves of layoffs and cutbacks. A few months earlier, Paramount, under the previous controlling owner Sherry Redstone, decided to reach a settlement in the lawsuit filed by President Trump following an interview on the “60 Minutes” program with the Democratic presidential candidate, Kamala Harris. A few weeks later, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved the merger between Paramount and Skydance. Skydance is managed by David Ellison, the son of billionaire Larry Ellison, who is considered an ally of Trump.

Two top executives at the network, CBS News CEO Wendy McMahon and “60 Minutes” executive producer Bill Evans, left their positions last year. Evans claimed management interference for systemic reasons, while McMahon refused to issue an apology to Trump as part of any possible settlement in the lawsuit.

David Ellison directed the seniors to lead the change, so Weiss spent a lot of time at the beginning of her career meeting with the prominent stars of the network. She began to play a more active role in selecting interviewees and guests, using phrases such as “I want to take it apart and put it back together” and “let’s do the breaking news.”

One of Weiss’s first decisions was to appoint CBS Morning News anchor Tony Dokufil as lead anchor of the CBS Evening News, whose newscast has been trailing its competitors in the ratings for years.

“60 Minutes” became a focus of special interest – and a point of contention – for Weiss. The program, which recently finished its 58th season, enjoyed over the years a great degree of independence in relation to the rest of the CBS news division.

The article was removed from the broadcast

In December, CBS News pulled a planned 60 Minutes story about a prison in El Salvador, where the Trump administration had sent hundreds of Venezuelan immigrants. The broadcast was canceled after a promotional trailer had already been broadcast. Weiss’s decision to delay the broadcast of the article provoked sharp criticism from reporter Sherin Alfonsi, who claimed that it was a politically motivated decision. Weiss said that she decided to delay the article because she believed that further investigation was required, as well as due to concerns that arose in her regarding the process of receiving responses.

The article, which was titled “Inside CECOT” [בתוך כותלי הכלא CECOT]was finally broadcast in January, after some supplementary segments were added in the opening and closing.

The following month, one of the stars most associated with the show, Anderson Cooper, announced his intention to leave. He announced that he will leave the show at the end of the season, after two decades as a reporter for “60 Minutes”.

Weiss continued her move to redesign 60 Minutes, and in the meantime she has Ellison’s support. Last week, the network said goodbye to Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega, another reporter of the program. Weiss changed also Tanya Simon, the executive producer of 60 Minutes, and Nick Bilton, a writer, documentary producer and former columnist, but with little experience in television news. Before his appointment, Bilton presented to Ellison and other executives at Paramount and CBS his vision for modernizing the program.

The “60 Minutes” editorial meeting held on Monday was supposed to serve as an introductory meeting between the employees and the new boss. Instead, Pelley interrupted Bilton early on, questioning his qualifications for the job and harshly attacking Weiss’ management decisions.

In a letter attached to the dismissal notice sent to Pelley on Tuesday night, Bilton described Pelley’s remarks at Monday’s board meeting as “a flamboyant display of hostility.” In a response given by Pele on Tuesday evening, Hot claim Because the new management of “60 Minutes” “sowed destruction”, meddled in content for political reasons and undermined the program’s journalistic standards. According to him, the editors fought to “save the program that has become an American icon”.

“The collapse of values ​​at the top has become unbearable,” he said.