Scott Pelley Says Bari Weiss Is ‘Murdering” 60 Minutes

60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley accused CBS News’s editor in chief, Bari Weiss, of “murdering” their show, the New York Times reports. The outlet claims that Pelley yelled at several executives, including Nick Bilton, a former journalist who now executive-produces the show. “For me, the journalism is the journalism,” Bilton allegedly told staffers. “That is why I am here. That is why we are all here. The rumors people are spreading, that I’m going to turn the show into 60 one-minute episodes, that it’s going to be like TikTok, that is not changing. The show is going to stay exactly like it is for now.” Hilton then said that Weiss “loves this institution” and 60 Minutes, which is when Pelley interjected. “She is murdering 60 Minutes,” he reportedly shouted. “She does not love this place. She was brought in to kill it, and she’s been doing exactly that. She has no qualifications for her job; you have slender qualifications for this job. The changes that she’s made at the ‘Evening News’ have been catastrophic, so why should we expect that any of this is going to be any better?” Weiss was not in attendance.

The tension between new leadership and staffers escalated when four top producers, Tanya Simon, Draggan Mihailovich, Guy Campanile, and Matthew Polevoy, and two correspondents, Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega, were fired in what is now known as Black Thursday among the staff. In December, Weiss reportedly pulled a segment on the Salvadoran prison CECOT three hours before it was going to air, claiming the piece needed additional reporting. It eventually aired with minimal changes to the original piece.