A sweeping leadership overhaul at 60 Minutes under CBS News’ new management has triggered multiple high-profile exits, as staff pushback grows over changes to editorial control and newsroom direction. Veteran journalist Scott Pelley has now been let go after a public dispute with the new leadership team, marking another major shake-up at one of America’s most respected television news programs, Variety reported.

Pelley’s departure leaves just three correspondents, Lesley Stahl, Bill Whitaker and Jon Wertheim, on the show’s reporting roster as it prepares for its 59th season later this year. The veteran reporter is the fourth “60 Minutes” correspondent to leave since February.

CBS Fires ’60 Minutes’ Veteran Scott Pelley 

According to Variety, the decision came after a tense staff meeting on Monday in which Pelley openly criticised Nick Bilton, the former tech journalist who was recently brought in by editorial chief Bari Weiss to help lead the program. 

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According to a letter reviewed by Variety, Bilton informed Pelley on Tuesday that his employment was being terminated immediately. “Your antipathy to the future of the show has come through loud and clear,” Bilton wrote. “And I have heard you. I therefore write on behalf of CBS News to inform you that your employment with CBS is terminated effective immediately.”

During the staff meeting, Pelley reportedly questioned both Bilton’s and Weiss’s qualifications to run a program with the stature of “60 Minutes,” which remains one of the most-watched and respected news shows in the United States. He also accused Weiss of “murdering ’60 Minutes.'” 

Scott Pelley releases scathing exit note

Upon his exit, Scott Pelley released a strongly worded statement defending 60 Minutes and criticising CBS News’ new leadership. He said the programme is a landmark in American journalism and praised its long-standing success and global reach. But he added that he believes its legacy is now being damaged under the new management.

Read Scott Pelley’s full post here:

“60’ has been the number-one program in America for decades because our beloved audience finds integrity, quality and humanity in our stories. When stewardship of the program passed to my colleagues and me, our responsibility was to expand energetically into a new age of media technology while preserving the values our audience expects. Now, the new owner of our network is casting this legend aside, apparently to curry a moment of favor with the Trump administration.The waste is heartbreaking.”

“Last month, ’60 Minutes’ lost its DNA when our entire senior leadership and two of our best on-air correspondents were cruelly fired without cause. Good people were silenced because they stood up for our audience. They stood for fairness against the forces of political bias; they stood for professionalism against chaos.

For my part, new management has instructed me to inject falsehoods and bias into a politically sensitive story. I’ve been told to include assertions that are unverified. To date, in every case, I have managed to ignore these instructions or refuse them. Recently, politicians have been invited to choose correspondents for interviews on the broadcast. Giving politicians control over ’60 Minutes’ interviews is not how this is done. Finally, incompetence and unprofessionalism in the new management have wreaked havoc. In a case involving one of my stories, the entire program came within 19 minutes of not getting on the air at all.”

Major exits continue at ’60 Minutes’ 

Pelley’s firing follows a series of high-profile departures at the show. Last week, CBS News removed several senior figures, including former executive producer Tanya Simon, executive editor Draggan Mihailovich, and correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega. 

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Earlier this year, Anderson Cooper, who had contributed to “60 Minutes” for nearly two decades, also announced that he was leaving the program. In a memo sent to employees on Tuesday evening, Bilton sought to reassure staff members following Pelley’s exit.

“I know how much Scott meant to you, and I don’t say this lightly,” Bilton wrote. “I made repeated attempts to have direct conversations with him over the weekend, and this afternoon I tried to find common ground. That was not the path Scott chose.” Bilton also promised his support for the remaining team.

“I will offer unyielding support for each of you, the journalism that you do and what we will do together going forward,” he said. Many viewers also know Pelley from his time as anchor of the “CBS Evening News,” a role he held from 2011 to 2017.

He joined CBS News in 1989 after beginning his journalism career as a copy boy at the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal in Texas, not far from his hometown of San Antonio. Over the years, Pelley built a reputation for hard-hitting reporting.

New leadership promises a fresh direction 

Just last week, Weiss shared her vision for the future of the program. She said she wanted 60 Minutes “to reach new heights through deep, revelatory journalism that breaks news, exposes wrongdoing, widens public understanding and forces accountability from every institution and every centre of power.”