Days after Cecilia Vega and others were fired from 60 Minutes, longtime correspondent on the CBS show Scott Pelley was also let go by the network.
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According to multiple media outlets, Pelley’s employment at CBS was terminated following his heated argument with former tech journalist Nick Bilton.
Bilton was reportedly hired by editorial chef Bari Weiss last week amid the layoffs of multiple producers and reporters.
“Your antipathy to the future of the show has come through loud and clear,” Bilton reportedly wrote in a letter sent to Pelley on Tuesday, obtained by Variety. “And I have heard you. I therefore write on behalf of CBS News to inform you that your employment with CBS is terminated effective immediately.”
Before the argument, Pelley called out Bilton and Weiss during a staff meeting, questioning their qualifications to manage 60 Minutes. He then accused Weiss of “murdering 60 Minutes.”
In a memo to staff members on Tuesday, Bilton stated, “I know how much Scott meant to you, and I don’t say this lightly. I made repeated attempts to have direct conversations with him over the weekend, and this afternoon I tried to find common ground. That was not the path Scott chose.”
He then noted that he would offer “unyielding support” to the staff members. “The journalism that you do and what we will do together going forward.”
Palley had been at CBS News since 1989. He has been a correspondent for 60 Minutes for more than 20 years. He joined the Sunday night broadcast in 2004. The correspondent was previously on 60 Minutes II from 1999 to 2005.
Palley also served as anchor and managing editor of CBS Evening News from 2011 to 2017.
Pelley Speaks Out After Being Fired From CBS News
In a statement to Variety, Pelley spoke out about being fired from CBS News.
“Last month, 60 Minutes lost its DNA when our entire senior leadership and two of our best on-air correspondents were cruelly fired without cause,” he wrote. “Good people were silenced because they stood up for our audience. They stood for fairness against the forces of political bias; they stood for professionalism against chaos.”
Pelley claimed the CBS News management instructed him to “inject falsehoods and bias into a politically sensitive story.”
“I’ve been told to include assertions that are unverified,” he alleged. “To date, in every case, I have managed to ignore these instructions or refuse them. Recently, politicians have been invited to choose correspondents for interviews on the broadcast. Giving politicians control over 60 Minutes interviews is not how this is done.”
Pelley then added, “Finally, incompetence and unprofessionalism in the new management have wreaked havoc. In a case involving one of my stories, the entire program came within 19 minutes of not getting on the air at all.”