Scott Pelley Fired by CBS News After Clashing with New Management

The longtime 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley, who was fired by CBS News on Tuesday after clashing with the network’s new management, issued a public statement accusing the network’s new executives of silencing employees and claiming they instructed him “to inject falsehoods and bias” into his reporting.

“‘60’ has been the number-one program in America for decades because our beloved audience finds integrity, quality, and humanity in our stories,” Pelley wrote in the lengthy statement he shared on social media on Wednesday morning.

“When stewardship of the program passed to my colleagues and me, our responsibility was to expand energetically into a new age of media technology while preserving the values our audience expects. Now, the new owner of our network is casting this legend aside, apparently to curry a moment of favor with the Trump administration.”

Pelley criticized the new leadership at CBS, adding: “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. 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.”

He continued: “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. 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. 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.”

He concluded his statement by saying that he departs “after 37 years at CBS with one emotion – a heart brimming with gratitude for the men and women of CBS News who encouraged and enriched my work, very often at the risk of their own lives. I pray for a day when those people and their ideals are honored again – a day when sanity, competence, and courage return.”

CBS News did not immediately respond to the Guardian’s request for comment about the statement.

Pelley has worked on the show since 2004, and was terminated on Tuesday after clashing with the new network leadership. His dismissal came after CBS News management stunned staffers last week by firing the network’s executive producer, executive editor and two correspondents, without giving a specific reason. And then according to reports, tensions boiled over during a heated meeting on Monday, involving the show’s newly appointed executive editor, Nick Bilton, along with another CBS News executive. During the meeting, Pelley rebuked Bari Weiss, the opinion commentator who CBS News in October named as editor-in-chief.

“She’s murdering 60 Minutes,” Pelley said, as first reported by the Guardian. “She does not love this place. She was brought in to kill it and is doing exactly that.”

Pelley was informed of his termination the following day, in a message from Bilton, who reportedly called out Pelley’s conduct in the meeting.

“Yesterday, you hijacked my first meeting with staff to disparage me, my qualifications, and my intentions with remarkable incivility and contempt,” he wrote.