Scott Pelley, a veteran “60 Minutes” correspondent, openly criticized new Executive Producer Nick Bilton and CBS News Editor in Chief Bari Weiss at Bilton’s first official staff meeting Monday, challenging Bilton’s qualifications for the role and accusing Weiss of damaging the long-running CBS News program, according to people familiar with the gathering. Pelley’s remarks drew applause from some attendees, the people said.
Bilton had barely begun his introductory remarks to the show’s producers and on-air talent when Pelley started questioning his suitability for the position, said people familiar with the meeting. Pelley also directed criticism at Weiss, who hired Bilton and was not present at the gathering, accusing her of “murdering” “60 Minutes,” according to people familiar with his remarks.
The confrontation came days after CBS parted ways with “60 Minutes” correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega, both of whom had been critical of Weiss’s involvement in the show. “60 Minutes” had previously operated with considerable autonomy from the broader CBS News organization, and the departures fueled staff concerns about centralized editorial control.
Bilton was named executive producer last week, an announcement that surprised many across the media industry. An author of two New York Times bestsellers who previously wrote for the Times and served as special correspondent at Vanity Fair, Bilton has worked as a producer and executive producer on several documentaries but has not run a weekly television news show, according to the Journal. Before his appointment, Bilton met with senior leaders at CBS and parent company Paramount, including CEO David Ellison, to present his vision for the show, according to people familiar with the process.
Alfonsi in December challenged Weiss’s decision to hold a “60 Minutes” segment on an El Salvador maximum-security prison where the Trump administration sent hundreds of Venezuelan migrants, including alleged gang members. Alfonsi called the decision a political move. Weiss said she delayed the piece because she determined it needed additional reporting and had concerns about the comment-seeking process. The segment, titled “Inside CECOT,” eventually aired in January with additional material bookending the piece.
Vega said last week that she and her producing teams experienced “efforts to insert political bias into our stories.” A CBS spokesman said those claims “are not based in reality.”
CBS News had attempted to speak with Pelley and other senior members of the show’s team about the changes to “60 Minutes,” according to people familiar with the matter, but Pelley did not engage. A person familiar with Pelley’s thinking said he declined because the outreach came on the day of the staff cuts last week, which he considered poorly timed.
In an interview with the Journal last week, Bilton said he was excited “to take what I believe is largely an unutilized news brand and take it into the modern age.”
“60 Minutes” has had only a handful of executive producers in its nearly 60-year run, and its staff can be wary of outsiders, the Journal reported. The current period marks one of the most turbulent stretches in the program’s history, with multiple correspondent departures, disputes over editorial authority, and now an open confrontation between the show’s most prominent on-air figure and its new leadership.