CBS News Conflict
Scott Pelley Demands Bari Weiss's Removal From CBS News Over Alleged "60 Minutes" Interference
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Scott Pelley, a longtime "60 Minutes" correspondent, went public on June 7 with a blunt warning: "CBS News is on fire." In a bombshell interview with The New York Times, Pelley called for the removal of CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss and accused her of "murdering" the iconic newsmagazine. CBS News fired Pelley "for cause" just days earlier, on June 2, with no severance.
The crisis follows a dramatic "Thursday Massacre" on May 28, when Weiss ousted longtime Executive Producer Tanya Simon after 30 years at the network, along with correspondents Cecilia Vega and Sharyn Alfonsi. Weiss replaced Simon with Nick Bilton, a former tech columnist with no broadcast experience, according to CNN.
Pelley Accuses Weiss of Putting Thumb on the Scale
Pelley's sharpest accusation is that Weiss tried to shape a segment to benefit the Trump administration. He says Weiss sent an email hours before airtime asking producers to make protesters "look more violent" and to describe shooting victim Renée Good as "driving toward the officer." Video evidence showed she was actually turning away, according to The Guardian.
Good, a 37-year-old mother, was fatally shot by an ICE agent in Minneapolis on January 7, 2026, during "Operation Metro Surge." The killing sparked national protests. Pelley said the attempt to reframe the video was a clear case of a "thumb on the scale" in favor of the White House. A CBS News spokesperson denied political interference and called the issue one of incompetence, not politics, per CNN.
How Skydance's $8 Billion Takeover Reshaped CBS News
The turmoil traces back to August 2025, when Skydance Media completed its $8 billion acquisition of Paramount Global. CEO David Ellison then appointed Weiss, founder of online outlet *The Free Press*, as CBS News Editor-in-Chief in October 2025. Ellison framed the move as a fix for what he called a "woke and anti-Trump tilt," according to NPR.
The political pressure had been building. In July 2025, Paramount settled a $16 million lawsuit Donald Trump filed over a "60 Minutes" interview with Kamala Harris. To win FCC approval for the Skydance merger, Paramount reportedly agreed to cut all DEI programs and hire an editorial ombudsman to review bias complaints, according to Poynter.
Inside the Clash: Pelley Confronts Weiss at All-Hands Meeting
Tensions boiled over on June 1 at a heated all-hands meeting. Pelley confronted Weiss and new Executive Producer Nick Bilton directly, saying Weiss "does not love this place" and that the show needed "adult supervision." Bilton fired back, telling Pelley: "Your antipathy to the future of the show has come through loud and clear," per Business Insider.
One day later, CBS fired Pelley for cause with no severance. Weiss defended the broader shakeup in a staff memo, saying the network needed a "new approach" to "thrive in the 21st century." Anderson Cooper had already left the show in February, reportedly uneasy with the new editorial direction, according to NewscastStudio.
"60 Minutes" Revenue and Reputation Hang in the Balance
The stakes are enormous. "60 Minutes" pulls in roughly $200 million in annual revenue for CBS and drew 10.1 million viewers for its April 12, 2026, episode — the highest-rated news program of the season. Ratings had also grown 9.1% year-over-year before the current crisis, according to Washington Monthly.
CBS News has cut 100 jobs in the first wave of layoffs since the Skydance takeover. The turmoil has also drawn scrutiny to Skydance's reported $110 billion bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery. Attorneys General in California and New York have cited the CBS situation as a reason to block further media consolidation, per krdo.com.
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