Scott Pelley accuses CBS News' Bari Weiss of 'murdering' '60 Minutes'
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
June 1, 2026, 6:35 PM EDT / Updated June 1, 2026, 7:49 PM EDTBy Daniel Arkin
"60 Minutes" correspondent Scott Pelley accused CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss of "murdering" the venerable newsmagazine at a staff meeting Monday with Nick Bilton, the technology journalist tapped to oversee the show, according to an audio recording and a source who was in the room.
Bilton, a documentary filmmaker and former tech columnist at The New York Times, told "60 Minutes" staff members that Weiss "loves this institution," the source said. Pelley interrupted Bilton and pushed back.
"She is murdering '60 Minutes.' She does not love this place," Pelley told Bilton, according to the audio recording. "She was brought in to kill it, and she's been doing exactly that."
The meeting was intended to be Bilton's introduction to the "60 Minutes" team. In another tense exchange, the source said, Pelley said Weiss has "no qualifications for her job" and told Bilton he has "slender qualifications" for his new role as executive producer of "60 Minutes," the leading newsmagazine on television.
CBS News spokespeople did not immediately respond to NBC News' requests for comment. The details of the meeting were first reported by The Guardian.
Weiss, a former opinion columnist and the founder of the website The Free Press, hired Bilton as part of a push to overhaul CBS News and "60 Minutes." In a major shake-up Thursday, CBS ousted Bilton's predecessor, "60 Minutes" veteran Tanya Simon, and fired two correspondents, Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega.
Alfonsi and Weiss clashed late last year over a last-minute decision to postpone a "60 Minutes" segment about the Trump administration's deporting Venezuelan men to a notorious prison in El Salvador. Alfonsi said the story was pulled for "political reasons"; Weiss said it was "not ready" for air.
The story, titled "Inside CECOT," ultimately aired in January. It included statements from the White House and the Department of Homeland Security that were not in the original version.
Pelley on Monday morning deplored the "catastrophic" changes Weiss has made to the "CBS Evening News," a show he hosted from 2011 to 2017. He asked Bilton why he had accepted a position at a show "knowing that you would never be welcomed here," according to the recording.
"I don't believe that will be the case," Bilton replied, according to the recording.
"I have been a journalist for 25 years, Scott. I have sat and talked with incredibly powerful people like you have," Bilton added. "None of it intimidates me, OK?"
Earlier in the meeting, Bilton attempted to allay concerns that "60 Minutes" would radically change under his tenure. "The journalism is the journalism," he said in part, according to the recording. "That is why I am here. That is why we are all here."
Weiss was appointed last fall by David Ellison, a technology scion who took over CBS' parent company, Paramount, in an $8 billion merger with his media company, Skydance.
Ellison is poised to take control of Warner Bros. Discovery, the owner of CNN, in a $110 billion deal. It is unclear whether CBS News and CNN would be combined or operate independently if regulators approve the merger.
CBS News legend Dan Rather and dozens of other journalists urged Ellison in a letter released Monday to "uphold the principle of editorial independence."
"We urge you to send a clear message to your staff, your viewers, and the broader public that you respect and value editorial independence and press freedom," the signers said.
Paramount Skydance did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the letter Monday.
Bill Owens, the former executive producer of "60 Minutes" who resigned a year ago, took issue with CBS News' current leadership in a speech on Monday night.
He called Weiss "an opinion writer who is best known for being an ideologue," and said his former colleagues were fired without any cause given.
"They were fired by people who don't even know what we do. Who don't actually care," Owens said at the New York Press Club Journalism Awards. He said Bilton is a former columnist who has never worked in television news.
In the final seconds of Monday's meeting, the source said, Bilton said he looked forward to speaking with staff members one-on-one in the coming days and weeks. "Enjoy the bagels," Bilton said before he left the room.
Seconds later, the people in the room applauded for Pelley, according to the recording.
"These people disgust him," according to a person close to Pelley. "They don't do what Scott and '60' do or stand for."
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Way to go, Mr. Pelley! Way to speak your mind and the truth. Hope you keep your job because I really like you
I am prophetic
If you ever want proof of how out of touch insane people like pellet are, imagine saying this your boss at your first meeting “Pelley said Weiss has "no qualifications for her job" and told Bilton he has "slender qualifications" for his new role as executive producer of "60 Minutes," the leading newsmagazine on television.”
60 minutes, has never, at least this century, played it straight. Bias, written 25 shears ago by a career long CBS journalist demonstrated just how baked in the left wing slant was to cbs news. And that Even before 60 minutes ran a story based on blatantly forged docs about George bush to try and win the election for Kerry. And of course, the problem has dramatically worsened since then.
60 minutes needs to be cleaned up. Anyone who has watched the show and can’t see how differently it treats republicans and democrats isn’t either paying attention or really needs to work on critical thinking skills.
Scott Pelley employed a political tactic common in these 'professional' occupations. By going on the attack, right out of the gate, Pelley can claim a future dismissal as 'retribution' and sue to sweeten the severance package. This has become a common tactic in the age of 'woke'.
Imagine working in quantum physics for 30 years and then your company gets bought out and they hire a former burger flipper to be your boss. I'm sure you'd just take that in stride and think nothing of it, right?
I have heard that from many who have their heads shoved up Trumps ass. To try and attack 60 minutes for any sort of error or claimed bias or dishonesty coming from rightwing conservatives is the height of hypocrisy. Trump lies more than he tells the truth and yet 60 minutes is the problem?
Trump and those carrying water for him are nothing but a bunch of fucking whiny losers.
Imagine thinking that applies here. Now that's funny.
What the hell does Trump have to do with 60 minutes being unbiased? Classic TDS. Trump's lies are completely irrelevant to whether CBS is unbiased. .
So, it's not relevant that the MOST FUCKING BIASED administration in history is whining about bias?
They are relevant since Trump doesn't want an unbiased 60 minutes; he's using the FCC to force media companies to come grovel before him and carry his bias to the masses. You don't actually believe those dumb as rocks stupid sorry losers that Trump has conned want 'unbiased' or objective reporting, do you? Of course not, they want their ears tickled because they're ears are already full of Trumps shit from having their heads shoved up his ass. Apparently, Trump convinced them to stuff their ears full of feces so they don't get 'brain washed'. It's clear Trump has trouble controlling people that have clear minds and a clean conscience. But those with shit for brains are his kind of people and that's who he wants running 60 minutes or any other media that would dare tell the truth about him.
60 Minutes is unbiased? Damn, thanks for the laugh.
They have a long-proven record of speaking truth to power regardless of whether the poorly educated dumb fuck conservative religious bigots believe them. Has 60 minutes shown bias? Yes, bias to the truth, bias to facts, bias to reality, and often those bias piss off bitter bigoted partisans who think only their version of reality should be allowed.
Most rightwing religious conservatives will likely never even understand what unbiased means, they have only had a view out the ass of their religion, so they see everything with a brown tint. They have never wanted anything to be 'unbiased', they want it biased towards their religious conservatism. They whine and complain when things aren't tilted in their favor, and I get it, they're completely self-absorbed and don't give a fuck about anyone but themselves, so when they're not the center of attention, they get loud and angry and snot starts running down there faces that have turned red with anger simply because their viewpoint wasn't expressed.
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The projection at play in that comment is epic. The left weeps and gnashes their teeth about Colbert and Pelley getting fired for cause and who are the whiners?
Hilarious!
Something like, "The reality check is in the mail" ?