Brendan Carr, head of the FCC, criticized journalist Scott Pelley for his remarks in a recent New York Times profile, where Pelley expressed surprise at being fired from “60 Minutes.”
Carr commented on X, stating, “One of the reasons why trust in media is so low is because many legacy journalists are completely out of touch. You could not get away with that behavior at any run of the mill job. It is revealing to see how blind some are to that.”
Carr referred to Pelley’s open criticism of the new leadership at CBS News and “60 Minutes.” Reports indicate that on May 25, Pelley confronted the show’s new executive producer, Nick Bilton, accusing him of having “slender qualifications.” Bilton, brought to “60 Minutes” by CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss, was also criticized by Pelley, who claimed Weiss was “murdering” the show.
On June 2, Bilton sent a letter indicating that CBS News and Pelley could not reach an agreement, leading to Pelley’s dismissal from “60 Minutes.”
Bilton wrote, “Your antipathy to the future of the show has come through loud and clear. 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.”
In his NYT interview, Pelley also suggested that Paramount-Skydance, CBS News’ parent company, should replace Weiss as editor-in-chief, claiming that “television is not her thing” and that “60 Minutes” requires “adult supervision.”
Pelley remarked to the Times’ Lulu Garcia-Navarro, “We have people who’ve been installed in these jobs who through no fault of their own have no experience in television. They don’t know what they’re doing. And there’s a subtle political bias that I’ve never seen at ’60 Minutes’ before, or at CBS News before. So that is my hope: a return to sanity.”
