The U.S. network CBS fired veteran 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley for “just cause”, a day after he harshly denounced to channel employees the loss of editorial independence of the new management of the historic program.
Following his dismissal on Tuesday, the veteran journalist claimed in a letter that the company tried to influence his editorial work and denounced that the new management ordered him to include unverified information and false statements in a politically sensitive investigation.
The development increases pressure on CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss and the controversial changes pushed this year in the network’s news division.
In a letter to the journalist, newly appointed ’60 Minutes’ executive producer Nick Bilton chided him for his attitude. “Your antipathy toward the future of the program has been loud and clear on display. And I have listened to you,” Bilton wrote.
The letter referred to a general meeting held on Monday, in which Pelley questioned Bilton over the layoffs announced last Thursday of senior producers and two correspondents of the flagship news outlet.
Among those laid off are Tanya Simon, executive producer for more than 30 years; Sharyn Alfonsi, one of the program’s best-known correspondents; and Cecilia Vega, the first Latina correspondent in the Sunday program’s history.
Bilton, who had been named executive producer the same day as the cuts, said he tried to reach out to Pelley, who accuses the new management of destroying the ’60 Minutes’ legacy. “It’s a profound disappointment that you rejected that approach and instead opted for the ambush,” the new executive said.
CBS “rapprochement” with Trump; Did it play a role in the firing of reporter Scott Pelley?
Following his dismissal, Pelley released a lengthy statement in which he accused the new owners and management of dismantling the historic program to move politically closer to President Donald Trump’s administration.
“There has never been anything in America like 60 Minutes. This Sunday tradition is the most successful program of any genre in history,” he said.
“Now, the new owner of our network is dropping this legend, apparently to gain a moment of favor with the Trump administration,” he said, and denounced the firing of his colleagues: “Good people were silenced for standing up for our audience,” he added.
The 68-year-old journalist denounced editorial pressure from the new management who have instructed him “to inject falsehoods and bias into a politically sensitive story”.
“I have been told to include claims that have not been verified,” he added.
“To date, in every case, I have managed to ignore these instructions or refuse to comply with them.”
Pelley also accused the new administration of incompetence and asserted that the principles that defined the program have disappeared.
“The leadership of 60 Minutes is already unrecognizable,” said the journalist, who worked for 37 years at CBS.
The conflict comes months after President Trump sued CBS over an interview that he alleged was edited to favor then-Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris.
The dispute was resolved through an out-of-court settlement in which the company agreed to make a million-dollar payment, reported Agencia EFE.
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