Bari Weiss, editor in chief of CBS News, on a staff call addressed the termination Scott Pelley, a longtime presence at the news outlet who was ousted from “60 Minutes” Tuesday after he engaged in a tenacious confrontation with the new executive producer of the newsmagazine.
Weiss is facing the risk of a full-scale revolt at “60 Minutes” after a series of dramatic shake-ups at the venerable program, including installing former tech journalist Nick Bilton as executive producer. CBS News fired Pelley late Tuesday after he engaged in heated public argument Monday with Bilton.
At the top of a conference call with CBS News staffers Wednesday morning, Weiss addressed the elephant in the room. Variety has confirmed the comments were made at the meeting.
“Before we get into it, I need to address what’s transpired in our newsroom over the past two days and what is making news,” she said. “I know I speak for myself, and I hope I speak for everyone here, when I say that I’m only interested in working in a newsroom that is built on trust and mutual respect.”
Weiss continued: “We cannot do our work without it. That foundation was broken on Monday, and despite our attempts to engage with Scott Pelley and to find a way back, unfortunately we weren’t able to do so, and so we had to part ways. We did not want that to happen, but that’s the path that he chose.”
