Key takeaways:
- Scott Pelley said Bari Weiss sought changes to a “60 Minutes” segment on Minnesota immigration protests after it had been approved for broadcast.
- CBS News said Weiss made four editorial points with “no political motivation” and that not all were included in the final piece.
- Pelley was fired after a heated meeting with new “60 Minutes” executive producer Nick Bilton amid broader leadership changes at the program.
Former “60 Minutes” correspondent Scott Pelley is accusing CBS News chief Bari Weiss of trying to push a politically sensitive report toward President Donald Trump’s account of immigration protests in Minnesota, escalating turmoil inside one of television’s most prominent news programs after Pelley’s firing last week.
In an interview with The New York Times published Sunday, Pelley said Weiss sought changes to a “60 Minutes” segment about confrontations between protesters and federal agents during immigration enforcement operations in Minnesota, including the fatal shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good. He said the proposed edits amounted to a kind of editorial pressure he had not encountered in 37 years at CBS News.
“There was a thumb on the scale for the president’s version of events that I felt was a level of political influence that I had never seen in 37 years at CBS News,” Pelley told the Times.
Pelley said Weiss sent notes after the segment had already been approved for broadcast. He said two points stood out: one asking whether the protesters could be portrayed as more violent, and another pressing the program to describe Good as driving toward an officer before she was shot.
“Two of the things in the email include, can we make the protesters look more violent? Now, I’m paraphrasing. I don’t have the quote, but that’s what was communicated to me,” Pelley said. “And the other thing, Renee Good’s car. You need to describe her as driving toward the officer.”
Pelley said he and his producer had already included footage showing protesters behaving violently, including confrontations with law enforcement. He said they reviewed video of Good’s shooting and concluded it did not support the description Weiss wanted.
“On the video, you see the officer standing slightly off the front of the car,” Pelley told the Times, according to The Guardian. “You clearly see Ms Good’s wheels turned completely as far as they will go, away from the officer. But he shoots her in the head [and] kills her.”
Pelley said no changes were made based on Weiss’ notes.
CBS News rejected his account, saying Weiss made “four points in the course of editorial back-and-forth.” The network said the points “had no political motivation and were proposed solely to make the piece as strong, fair, and accurate as possible.” CBS added: “As is frequently the case in any newsroom that operates with collaboration, not everything she raised made it into the final piece.” Asked about Pelley’s claim that Weiss was putting “a thumb on the scale” for the Trump administration, CBS News said there was “no credible argument” to support that.
The dispute comes during a period of upheaval at “60 Minutes” following the sale of Paramount, CBS’ parent company, to Skydance Media and Weiss’ appointment as editor-in-chief. Pelley was fired Tuesday after a heated meeting with newly hired “60 Minutes” executive producer Nick Bilton, a former Vanity Fair journalist and filmmaker. Pelley said Bilton lacked television news experience.
The program has also seen the removal of executive producer Tanya Simon and the departure of several correspondents and producers amid concerns about editorial independence, The Guardian reported. Three veterans — Lesley Stahl, Bill Whitaker and Jon Wertheim — are staying on. Bilton told staff in a memo that “the foundation of 60 Minutes is journalistic independence” and added, “We will always pursue stories without fear or favor.”
Pelley said tensions had been building after mass firings and leadership changes. He also criticized Weiss’ background, saying her lack of television experience and experience managing a global news organization were “red flags to me.”
Pelley linked broader concerns at CBS News to Paramount’s July 2025 settlement of Trump’s lawsuit against the network, which came weeks before federal regulators approved the Skydance acquisition. Pelley called the settlement a “bribe” intended to help secure approval of the deal, an allegation Paramount has denied.
He also said Simon may have been dismissed partly because of tensions over Anderson Cooper’s final “60 Minutes” appearance after his contract was not renewed. Cooper ended by saying he hoped the program would remain true to itself. Pelley said he understood Weiss was “quite livid” that Cooper was allowed to say those things without her being consulted.
CBS News did not immediately respond to NBC News’ request for comment on Pelley’s description of Simon’s termination or his assertion that Weiss should be removed.
“They don’t know what they’re doing,” Pelley said of CBS News leadership. “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. We can save this. It’s possible to land this plane. But right now, CBS News is on fire.”
Be First to Comment