Scott Pelley’s bombshell interview with The New York Times over the weekend after his firing from “60 Minutes” has drawn even more scrutiny to the management style of Bari Weiss, who in October was installed to oversee CBS News. The former print journalist, who launched the “Free Press” website, had no TV experience when Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison appointed her editor-in-chief, and was known more for having preconceived views on several weighty topics, including declining trust in mainstream media and fervent support for Israel.
In an emotional exchange with the Times, Pelley said Weiss’ inexperience with the medium has undermined the work being produced by the Paramount Skydance news outlet. “We need adult supervision, and at the moment we don’t have it. We have people who’ve been installed in these jobs who through no fault of their own have no experience in television. They don’t know what they’re doing,” Pelley said. “And there’s a subtle political bias that I’ve never seen at ‘60 Minutes’ before, or at CBS News before. So that is my hope: a return to sanity.”
CBS News, he added, is “on fire” under Weiss’ management.
CBS News has pushed back on Pelley’s allegations, but in the public arena, Weiss is likely to be under continued audit. In her most audacious maneuver, she ordered CBS News to lop off the senior management of “60 Minutes,” a flagship CBS property and one of journalism’s crown jewels. Nearly two weeks ago, CBS News ousted Tanya Simon, the executive producer of “60 Minutes”; Draggan Mihailovich, the show’s executive editor; correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega; and senior producers Guy Campanile and Matthew Polevoy. Within days, Pelley was also dispatched, following verbal sparring with the show’s new leader, Nick Bilton. The program, the most-watched news show in the U.S., is left with just three correspondents and a need to get stories ready to go for fall.
