The firing of longtime "60 Minutes" correspondent Scott Pelley and other recent shake-ups at the CBS newsmagazine have left only Lesley Stahl, Bill Whitaker, and Jon Wertheim as remaining correspondents.
It remains unclear whether the iconic program — a viewer mainstay for 57 years — can regain its footing or preserve public trust under CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss' leadership, as the changes draw sharp criticism from journalists and fuel an escalating public feud, According to The Wrap. Weiss continues to face internal skepticism, with the aggressive handling of Pelley's exit adding to perceptions of poor crisis management.
"The audience is going to have a hard time trusting CBS if it keeps seeing stories like this," said Susie Banikarim, former head of global newsgathering and EVP of Vice News and a contributor to Columbia Journalism Review.
The controversy intensified Wednesday as Weiss and Pelley traded barbs through the press. In a staff call, Weiss said Pelley had broken a "foundation of trust and mutual respect" during his Monday confrontation with new executive producer Nick Bilton. She described the outcome as unfortunate but necessary.
Pelley rejected that account in a pointed response: "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... At no point did anyone... suggest that there could be steps taken... Weiss and [CBS News President] Tom Cibrowski were openly hostile from the start. ‘Firing’ was raised by Cibrowski in the first 15 seconds."
Pelley had earlier leveled serious accusations at the heart of the program's credibility: "For my part, new management has instructed me to inject falsehoods and bias into a politically sensitive story. I’ve been told to include assertions that are unverified."
CBS News has declined to comment on Pelley's claims. The public back-and-forth, combined with months of layoffs and leadership changes, has raised broader doubts about whether audiences will accept the revamped "60 Minutes" when it returns in September.