Scott Pelley Speaks Out After CBS Termination, Says Network Is ‘On Fire’

Veteran “60 Minutes” correspondent Scott Pelley is taking aim at CBS following his recent termination, describing the network as being “on fire” as internal tensions become public.

In his first sit-down interview since he was fired from the network after 37 years, Pelley told The New York Times that CBS is facing a crisis that extends beyond personnel decisions.

“Right now, CBS News is on fire,” Pelley told the outlet, suggesting that problems in the newsroom stem from what he views as a breakdown in journalistic values and growing interference in editorial decision-making under news editor-in-chief Bari Weiss.

“We have broadcasts that almost don’t get on the air,” he said.

“We have respected journalists saying that there is a thumb on the scale for one political party over another. We have a broadcast that is among the most important in America.

“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. And there’s a subtle political bias that I’ve never seen at ’60 Minutes’ before, or at CBS News before.”

Pelley was fired on June 2 after a heated meeting with new Executive Producer Nick Bilton, Weiss, and CBS staff, during which he challenged network executives and questioned recent personnel changes.

A week prior, the network also parted ways with former executive producer Tanya Simon and correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega.

“No one saw the Black Thursday massacre coming,” Pelley said. “This is our entire senior staff. Tanya Simon, our boss, is the first woman ever to be executive producer of ’60 Minutes.’

“The night before, Tanya and I were at the Emmy Awards, and we won two Emmys. Within hours, all of those people have been wiped out, and one-third of our correspondents have been fired.”

Shortly after Pelley’s firing, Weiss addressed staff during a recent editorial meeting, attributing the split to a breakdown in trust and mutual respect within the newsroom.

Weiss told staff that a “foundation” of trust had been damaged and that attempts to engage with Pelley to restore the relationship ultimately failed. She claims Pelley’s termination was not a decision she wanted to make, but ultimately it was the path “he chose.”

In response, Pelley disputed her account of the situation, saying that efforts to reconcile were either insufficient or never meaningfully pursued.

“In the meeting on Tuesday, in which I was effectively fired, there was no effort of any kind to ‘find a way back,’ as Weiss said in the editorial meeting,” Pelley said in a statement.

“At no point did anyone in the Tuesday meeting suggest that there could be steps taken by either side that would lead to a resolution.”

The Epoch Times reached out to both Pelley and CBS News for comment on the matter but did not receive a response by publication time.

In the email Bilton sent to Pelley notifying him of his immediate termination, the executive producer cited Pelley’s “hostility” and “misconduct” during a meeting as reasons for the decision.

“Yesterday, you hijacked my first meeting with staff to disparage me, my qualifications, and my intentions with remarkable incivility and contempt,” Bilton wrote. “I welcome a diversity of viewpoints and respectful debate among the team, but this was nothing of the sort.”

Bilton said in the email that the executive management team tried again to meet with Pelley June 2 to “find a path forward together,” but the second meeting resulted in Pelley’s firing.

Bilton started at the longest-running primetime news show on May 28. The former technology journalist and filmmaker with no broadcast experience said he started his job excited to collaborate with the staff and called Pelley to invite him to dinner to talk, but Pelley rejected the offer.

Pelley started working at CBS News in 1989.

In recent months, “60 Minutes” has been navigating internal disputes amid a turnover in management triggered by a $16 million settlement it reached with President Donald Trump in July 2025 over alleged deceptive edits of an interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris in the run-up to the 2024 election.

The lawsuit saw the departure of former executive producer Bill Owens citing a loss of editorial independence.

CBS’s parent company Paramount then merged with Skydance, with the company pledging to address bias, restore fact-based reporting, and invest in “trusted local news,” according to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr.

Independent journalist, commentator, and media executive Weiss was subsequently named by Paramount as the editor-in-chief of CBS News in October.

Jill McLaughlin contributed to this report.