Scott Pelley: CBS Has 'Murdered' 60 Minutes

Pelley, Fired 60-Minutes Correspondents and Bilton

CBS News was rocked by fresh internal turmoil Monday when “60 Minutes” correspondent Scott Pelley sharply attacked the program’s newly hired executive producer and accused editor-in-chief Bari Weiss of “murdering” the iconic Sunday newsmagazine.

In an extraordinary staff meeting at the program’s Midtown Manhattan headquarters, Pelley confronted Nick Bilton, a tech journalist and filmmaker appointed last week as part of a major shake-up. With his voice shaking at times, Pelley told Bilton he had only “slender” qualifications for the job and questioned the network’s commitment to the future of “60 Minutes,” according to a recording obtained by The New York Times.

Pelley declared that Weiss “is murdering ‘60 Minutes.’ She does not love this place. She was brought in to kill it, and she’s been doing exactly that.” He added that changes Weiss has made at the “CBS Evening News” have been “catastrophic.”

Bari Weiss

The tense 10 a.m. gathering was intended as a formal introduction to Bilton, who has never worked in traditional broadcast news. It came days after CBS fired longtime executive producer Tanya Simon, her deputy, and correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega — an event Pelley called “Black Thursday.”

Bilton tried to calm staff anxieties, insisting, “For me, the journalism is the journalism. That is why I am here.” He denied rumors that he would transform the show into short-form, TikTok-style content, saying, “The show is going to stay exactly like it is for now.” 

He acknowledged the challenges facing broadcast television, calling it “an ice cube that is melting,” but added that Weiss “loves this institution” and “loves ‘60 Minutes.’”

Pelley interrupted and pressed Bilton on the recent firings. Bilton responded that those decisions predated his arrival and said he planned to meet individually with staff over the next two weeks to prove himself. “I will show you,” he said.

CBS 60 Minutes Ratings - 2000 to 2026

60 Minutes has declined for over two decades as viewing habits have changed.

The 2025–2026 season under @BariWeiss, it averaged 9.1 million viewers, a +9% increase.

So much for @ScottPelley’s claim that she’s “murdering” the show. pic.twitter.com/xMSBGpEX0z

— RoadMN (@RoadMN) June 1, 2026

Weiss did not attend the meeting. A CBS executive said she had been prepared to come but was asked not to because of staff resentment over the firings. Weiss and Bilton had tried to arrange a private meeting with Pelley in recent days, but he did not respond.

The clash reflects months of strain between “60 Minutes” veterans and Weiss, a former opinion journalist and longtime critic of legacy media who was appointed editor-in-chief by David Ellison after his multibillion-dollar merger that gave him control of Paramount, CBS’s parent company. The firings and leadership changes have fueled concerns among longtime staff that the program’s decades-old identity is at risk.