In the aftermath of the explosive first meeting between the remaining “60 Minutes” staffers and new Bari Weiss hand-picked executive producer Nick Bilton, executives at CBS News are picking through the rubble of the very public spectacle of a news organization in crisis.
According to media watchdog Status, during the brief 15-minute Monday meeting, noted 60 Minutes co-host Scott Pelley raked Bilton over the coals as Pelley pointed out that his boss, Weiss, has “no qualifications for her job” and added that Bilton has “slender qualifications for this job.”
According to audio obtained from the meeting by Status, that came after Pelley accused, “She’s murdering ’60 Minutes‘. She does not love this place. She was brought in to kill it—and she’s doing exactly that.”
Late Monday, Status reported that Weiss has since been nowhere to be seen, with Oliver Darcy reporting, “Pelley’s extraordinary remarks immediately led staffers inside ’60 Minutes’ to wonder whether he was leaving the program. Pelley has not commented on the matter, but I’m told he has not quit—at least not yet. Instead, it appears he is daring Weiss to fire him.”
“Bari may have six bodyguards but she seems afraid to stand by her man Nick and face the grilling at ’60 Minutes,’” one television news executive told Status. “No other explanation for sending him [Bilton] to slaughter today and not being there.”
Inside CBS News and parent company Paramount, Pelley’s takedown detonated like “a nuclear bomb,” dominating conversations throughout the media conglomerate. Yet the silence from leadership was equally striking, Darcy wrote.
Hours after Pelley’s attack, CBS News had issued no statement addressing the crisis. Weiss remained notably absent, and network leadership — to whom Weiss directly reports — offered nothing beyond a Paramount spokesperson declining to comment.
A veteran television news executive told Status that Pelley’s confrontation was unprecedented in scale and severity.
“Every new executive lives in terror of those meetings with star talent and staff, and we have all been put through the wringer by angry anchors and employees. But this was by far the worst I’ve ever seen. By far. A star anchor says you don’t have the relevant experience, why did you even take this job, you’ll never be welcome here. Savage,” the executive said.
Despite the apparent catastrophe, one top media executive suggested the situation could be salvaged, telling Darcy during a phone call that the best path forward is to “move Weiss back to her anti-‘woke’ The Free Press, pay out Bilton’s contract, rehire the fired ’60 Minutes’ staff, and admit the recent moves had been a mistake. Then install a seasoned news manager to oversee CBS News.”
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