Scott Pelley, once a prominent figure on 60 Minutes, found himself dismissed from the renowned program following a series of inflammatory remarks directed at his new superior. A leading television executive has now remarked that Pelley’s departure was inevitable.
The ex-60 Minutes anchor, who experienced a sudden exit from CBS News earlier this week, was described as being “arrogant, emotional, and constantly self-righteous” by a former network insider.
This media source, choosing to remain unnamed while speaking with the Daily Mail, commented, “I’ve had my encounters with Scott.”
At 68, Pelley confronted the newly installed executive producer of 60 Minutes, Nick Bilton, during Bilton’s inaugural meeting on Monday.
During the tense exchange, Pelley criticized CBS News’s editor-in-chief, Bari Weiss, asserting that she lacked the necessary qualifications for her position and claiming that her leadership was detrimental to the future of 60 Minutes.
Turning to Bilton, Pelley raged: ‘You have slender qualifications for this job.’
Pelley went on to tell Bilton in front of stunned colleagues that ‘you will never be welcome here’.
When Bilton insisted to Pelley and other co-workers that he cared ‘so deeply about this institution’, referring to 60 Minutes, Pelley snapped: ‘Oh please!’
Scott Pelley, 68, was fired from CBS News after nearly 40 years on Tuesday, following a ‘tense’ all-hands meeting that had been meant to introduce the 60 Minutes team to its new producer
Monday was Nick Bilton’s first day on the job, and he was met with a prime example of a sense of ‘arrogance’ that has ‘pervaded’ CBS for years, a former CBS executive said
In response, Bilton wrote a strongly worded letter to Pelley on Tuesday informing him that he was terminated, ‘effective immediately.’
‘Your antipathy to the future of the show has come through loud and clear. And I have heard you,’ he wrote. ‘I therefore write on behalf of CBS News, Inc to inform you that your employment with CBS is terminated for cause effective immediately.’
But our former CBS News executive said Pelley’s petulance was a prime example of a sense of ‘arrogance’ that has ‘pervaded’ CBS for years, particularly within 60 Minutes, which is the US’s top-rated newsmagazine.
That executive noted how 60 Minutes is based in a separate New York City office to the rest of the CBS News team, with the ‘air of secrecy’ surrounding their work turning many at the network against them.
‘Was [Pelley] standing up for what he believed in? He was. But it’s what he believes is the problem. It started well before Bari Weiss. And they don’t get it. It’s hubris. Arrogance,’ the source said.
‘For him to go out of his way to go public and embarrass and try to force the issue with Bari… I’ve had some bad bosses, I believe in standing up for journalistic principles. But I think he crossed the line.
‘Scott is very emotional. He lost control, the words he chose to use, leaking it, whoever did, it feels deliberate,’ the source said, in reference to a recording of the angry meeting with Bilton that was shared with multiple media outlets shortly afterwards.
The former CBS executive suggested Pelley and his team were likely in the midst of a ‘play’ to outlast current management and said that strategy has worked for them in the past.
‘They think they’re infallible and have this arrogance. They are not willing to adapt or evolve to anything,’ the source said.
‘They were never going to give Nick (Bilton) a chance… Their strategy has worked, until now.’
The former CBS exec said a CBS News staffer was pleased by Thursday’s wave firings due to 60 Minutes staffers reputation. Sharyn Alfonsi, Cecelia Vega, and former top executive Tanya Simon were all shown the door
Such ‘unwillingness to change’ and ‘infallibility’ have even perturbed others at the Tiffany Network, the source said.
The former CBS executive says a friend who still works at CBS News was pleased by the recent exits of two other 60 Minutes correspondents – Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecelia Vega, alongside two senior producers.
‘It’s about time 60 got theirs,’ that staffer said of last month’s dismissals, which were spearheaded by Weiss – the former New York Times journalist turned free speech defender and founder of news site The Free Press, who was brought in last year to head up CBS news and reinvigorate the venerable network by its parent company Paramount.
‘They are not brokenhearted about this whole thing at 60 minutes, because they made them hate them,’ the former executive said of other CBS News staff.
The executive also suggested Pelley and his fellow 60 Minutes veterans had a sense of superiority – and bias.
‘They leaned progressive, and they didn’t even realize they did. It’s in their DNA. They weren’t willing to look at stories at a new angle.’
A reluctance to acknowledge shifting standards in the industry was also brought up.
‘Cost, technology, it’s all different now,’ the source said. ‘You have to adapt.’
The 60 Minutes team demonstrated an ‘unwillingness to change’ and ‘infallibility’ over the years, way before Bilton, they said
CBS editor-in-chief Bari Weiss was brought in last year to reinvigorate the venerable network by its parent company Paramount
The former CBS executive said 60 Minutes’ investigations cost $1 million each – and with three broadcast per episode, the outlay had started to trouble executives in a time of fast-declining revenue for linear television: ’60 Minutes as it is constituted cannot succeed.’
The executive also told the Daily Mail that Anderson Cooper, who recently voluntarily departed 60 Minutes, warned his colleagues not to get into a ‘stand-off’ with CBS bosses, to no avail.
A second CBS insider similarly saw Pelley’s outburst as ‘a very accomplished investigative reporter’ having ‘let his ego and emotions rule the day.’
They pointed to standard language in on-air talent contracts that states stars can ‘face termination’ for statements that reflect unfavorably upon CBS.
‘He knows you can’t become emotional. You can’t let you ego get in the way of the facts or reporting out the story. In this case, he let his ego and emotions sabotage his career,’ the source said.
‘It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in, you cannot badmouth your boss and not face any consequences – even if you’re a big star.’
Bilton, a former New York Times columnist and Vanity Fair journalist, replaced longtime executive Tanya Simon last Thursday.
The former filmmaker and tech journalist was handpicked by Weiss. She pointed to Bilton’s understanding of the cutting-edge and his ability to tell stories on a plethora of platforms while touting her new hire to The New York Times.
‘He has been the one to see the tsunami before the wave hits the rest of us,’ she said.
Bilton, 49, told the publication: ‘When you take an insider and you put them inside a company, nothing changes.’
Pelley issued his own statement on Wednesday morning after hearing of a CBS News editorial conference call discussing his departure and concluded the lengthy statement by saying he was ‘pained’ to hear that his former colleagues had been ‘misled’ about the circumstances surrounding his departure.
The Daily Mail has contacted CBS News and Scott Pelley for further comment.
