Scott Pelley has expressed that he no longer recognizes “60 Minutes” following the acquisition of CBS News by Paramount Skydance. He has criticized the news division’s leadership for “incompetence and unprofessionalism” that has caused disruptions for months.
In his first statement after CBS News announced his dismissal on Tuesday evening, Pelley claimed that Paramount Skydance is “casting this legend aside” to potentially gain favor with the Trump administration.
A CBS News representative did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
CBS News ended its relationship with the “60 Minutes” veteran after failing to resolve differences following a contentious public dispute on Monday between Pelley and Nick Bilton, who had recently been appointed by editorial chief Bari Weiss. This shift also led to the departure of key producers and correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega. Pelley is the fourth reporter to leave “60 Minutes” since February, leaving Lesley Stahl, Bill Whitaker, and Jon Wertheim to prepare for the show’s 59th season in the fall.
“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,” Pelley stated.
Pelley further alleged that new management directed him to include falsehoods and bias in politically sensitive stories, insisting on unverified assertions. He claimed to have resisted these instructions thus far. He also noted that politicians have been allowed to select correspondents for interviews, a practice he criticized. “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,” he added.
Having been a prominent figure at CBS News for decades, anchoring “CBS Evening News” and contributing to “60 Minutes,” Pelley expressed hope that the esteemed news division, once home to Walter Cronkite, might regain its stature. “I depart after 37 years at CBS with one emotion—a heart brimming with gratitude for the men and women of CBS News who encouraged and enriched my work, very often at the risk of their own lives. I pray for a day when those people and their ideals are honored again—a day when sanity, competence, and courage return.”
