Ever since new owner David Ellision appointed Free Press founder Bari Weiss to run CBS News there’s been controversy about how she’s doing and what it means for media more broadly. Recently, she fired much of the senior team working on “60 Minutes.” “60 Minutes” correspondent Scott Pelley, who has had a role at the network for 37 years, reacted in a staff meeting that lead to his subsequent firing from the network as well.
Pelley and Weiss have different narratives of what happened. Pelley accused Weiss of bias and editorial interference, which she denies. She said the foundation of trust and mutual respect needed to do their work together was broken and Pelley had chosen his path.
Generally, writers on the left sided with Pelley and were dismayed at Weiss’ changes to CBS, while those on the right were more likely to see Weiss as changing CBS for the better and Pelley as being disrespectful.
Josh Hammer (Lean Right) wrote in Newsmax (Right), “it is impossible to ignore the reality that large swaths of the establishment press harbor a dripping disdain for Trump and his supporters — meaning, approximately half the country. Second, due to the explosion of social media and the proliferation of citizen-journalist YouTubers and Substackers, the mainstream press has never faced more competition than it does today. An intellectually honest fourth estate is an indispensable safeguard of a healthy republic. Accordingly, it is imperative that Weiss succeed in her quest to refashion CBS News into a genuinely fair and balanced network. And it's equally important that all other organizations seeking to rebalance their biased coverages achieve similar success.”
A Semafor (Lean Left) writer assessed, “CBS News, like all of its competitors, needs to rapidly adapt if it hopes to survive the behavioral changes that have moved eyeballs to algorithmically-driven digital media platforms. But the new leadership group underestimated the willingness of longtime staff to welcome the latest in a series of new regimes promising change…And in their zeal for new media, the new CBS leadership similarly underestimated one of the strengths of some old media players: the ability to generate spectacle. Despite losing his job, Pelley successfully derailed their announcement plan for a new 60 Minutes, causing Bilton to play defense and apologize to staff just a week after joining the network and conceding that 60 Minutes would have full editorial independence that could not be swayed.”
A Wall Street Journal Opinion (Lean Right) piece said, “Mr. Pelley didn’t resign, he didn’t seek to be fired. The network wasn’t trying to get rid of him—just the opposite. He stumbled into his fate by saying demeaning, insulting things that could have been phrased diplomatically. With the Times, he plays out the ‘family’ rationalization by getting weepy over a colleague who ventured pregnant into a war zone. Please. Our ranks are full of people who can’t wait to get to a war zone, especially on behalf of an employer that provides seven-figure salaries, the best hotels, armed protection and the ability to pull strings at the White House in case of trouble…His mistake is one people often make, not apologizing when the only right thing to do is apologize.”
In AlterNet (Left) Robert Reich (Left) said, “Now, CBS News is a disgraced shell of a news organization that last week fired famed ‘60 Minutes’ senior correspondent Scott Pelley, after gutting most of the rest of its team…Why was Weiss doing this? Presumably because her boss, David Ellison, wants to s--- up to Trump, and hired Weiss to help him — and she hired Bilton to aid her in doing so. And she fired other staff because they wouldn’t.”
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