After a tumultuous week, CBS News took a major step in stopping the bleeding at “60 Minutes.”
In a memo sent Friday morning, the three remaining “60 Minutes” correspondents Bill Whitaker, Lesley Stahl and Jon Wertheim said they will continue with the program. The trio strongly considered leaving in solidarity with their ousted colleagues Scott Pelley, Sharyn Alfonsi , Cecilia Vega and executive producer Tanya Simon and her second-in-command Draggan Mihailovich.
Pelley — angry over the dismissal of his other co-workers — was fired Tuesday, a day after confronting the program’s new executive producer Nick Bilton at his first staff meeting. Pelley questioned the credentials of Bilton, a former New York Times journalist with no experience in television news. He also accused CBS News Bari Weiss — who oversaw the changes — of “murdering” the program.
The memo said the decision to stay should not be seen “as an endorsement of the existing power structure.”
“Here’s why we’re staying: We don’t want ’60 Minutes’ to die,” they wrote.
The dismissal of Pelley, considered the most respected journalist inside CBS News, sent shockwaves through the organization and led to speculation of an exodus by the remaining three correspondents.
In their memo, Whitaker, Stahl and Wertheim said they felt the same bewilderment and frustration that Pelley did over the firing of their colleagues.
“We want to express how sorry we are that these principled, fair and honest journalists were treated so shabbily, with such indecency,” they wrote. “Tanya deserves to be celebrated, not truly cast off. Draggan too. It was heartbreaking.”
With the program in full-blown crisis, Bilton spent the rest of the week attempting to calm the waters and retain the disgruntled correspondents. He issued a memo Thursday praising Whitaker, Stahl and Wertheim — calling them “the core of the show’s success” — and promising to uphold the editorial independence of the program.
“We will always pursue stories without fear or favor,” Bilton said.
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