Sharyn Alfonsi and Scott Pelley, two former “60 Minutes” correspondents who were ousted from the show after clashing with executives this past spring, are headed to a new professional destination: the classroom.
Ms. Alfonsi and Mr. Pelley will be journalists-in-residence at Columbia Journalism School for the coming academic year, the school said Monday. The roles, which are part-time, will involve giving lectures and helping students hone their investigative reporting skills. Each will also contribute an article to the Columbia Journalism Review, the school’s magazine about media issues.
“These are two prime journalists,” Jelani Cobb, the dean of Columbia Journalism School, said in an interview. “They weren’t just at a notable news organization. They were at the pre-eminent investigative broadcast news program.”
Ms. Alfonsi and Mr. Pelley were pushed out of “60 Minutes” amid tensions with Bari Weiss, the editor in chief of CBS News, whom they each accused of inserting political bias into their stories. CBS News allowed Ms. Alfonsi’s contract to lapse and fired Mr. Pelley after he confronted the show’s new executive producer, Nick Bilton, about a staff shake-up.
In statements, Ms. Alfonsi and Mr. Pelley said their new roles at Columbia came at a crucial time for journalism. “Deep, rigorous and fearless reporting has never been more vital,” Ms. Alfonsi said. “This is a critical time for a free press,” Mr. Pelley added.
Mr. Cobb said that he reached out to Mr. Pelley the day after “60 Minutes” fired the correspondent in June. Amid the furor around Mr. Pelley’s break with “60 Minutes,” Mr. Cobb expected it would be difficult to reach him. But Mr. Pelley picked up right away, and Mr. Cobb settled the details quickly with him and Ms. Alfonsi.
After that, they had to prevent the news from leaking, Mr. Cobb said.
“We’ve had to keep it under our hats for a little while,” he said. “This happened six or seven weeks ago.”
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