Veteran “60 Minutes” correspondent Scott Pelley had a contentious meeting with CBS News management on Tuesday afternoon, leading some of his colleagues to believe that he will be fired, sources familiar with the matter told CNN.
The meeting came one day after Pelley pointedly questioned and criticized new “60 Minutes” executive producer Nick Bilton in a staff meeting. Pelley’s scathing remarks immediately leaked to outside news outlets and ignited a crisis inside CBS.
Pelley charged editor in chief Bari Weiss with trying to “kill” the acclaimed newsmagazine and strongly objected to her hiring of Bilton, a former tech reporter with little TV news experience, to run the program.
Pelley had declined Weiss and Bilton’s previous attempts to meet with him privately to discuss last Thursday’s shakeup at “60 Minutes,” which included the firings of top producers and two correspondents. Bilton was appointed on the same day.
At Monday’s staff meeting, Pelley depicted Weiss and Bilton as unqualified for their jobs and said Bilton would “never be welcome here.”
