Scott Pelley of '60 Minutes' accuses CBS News head Bari Weiss of
'murdering' the show, report says
[June 02, 2026]
By JOCELYN NOVECK
NEW YORK (AP) — In a remarkable sign of the turmoil at CBS’s top-rated
“60 Minutes,” correspondent Scott Pelley said CBS News head Bari Weiss
was “murdering the show” and accused its new producer of having “slender
qualifications” for the job, according to reports.
Pelley made his accusations in an introductory meeting Monday between
the newsmagazine’s staff and Nick Bilton, the new executive producer
named by Weiss last week, according to a detailed report on the Status
website, which said it had heard a recording of the meeting. Weiss
herself was not present, according to the report. Status specializes in
media news and analysis.
Status reported that Pelley, the longtime “60 Minutes” correspondent,
began grilling Bilton at the 10 a.m. meeting about the firings last week
of Bilton's predecessor, Tanya Simon, and correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi
and Cecilia Vega. Status also reported that Pelley told Bilton, a former
technology journalist and filmmaker with no traditional broadcast news
experience, that his qualifications for the position were “slender."
Pelley also charged, according to Status, that Weiss herself had “no
qualifications for her job,” and said the changes she had made to “CBS
Evening News,” which Pelley once anchored, “have been catastrophic.”
It added that Bilton insisted that “Bari loves this institution” and
“she loves ’60 Minutes'" — to which Pelley countered, “She’s murdering
‘60 minutes.’ She does not love this place. She was brought in to kill
it and she’s doing exactly that.”
CBS says leaders tried to reach out to Pelley
Two spokespeople for CBS News did not immediately respond to a request
for comment.
But a person close to CBS News leadership, speaking on condition of
anonymity, told The Associated Press that both Weiss and Bilton had
tried to reach out to Pelley late last week when the changes rocked the
57-year-old show to tell him that he was an integral part of “60
Minutes” and wanted him to remain so.
The person said Weiss and Bilton felt it was disappointing that Pelley's
accusations were being aired publicly despite efforts to engage with him
privately.
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Scott Pelley, anchor of "CBS Evening News," at the CBS Upfront in
New York, May 15, 2013. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP, File)
 The New York Times, which also
reported that it had listened to a recording of Monday's meeting,
noted that Pelley's “newscaster's baritone” was shaking during the
exchange. The newspaper also quoted an unnamed executive at the
meeting as saying Weiss had been prepared to come, but “we asked her
not to.”
Argument comes after memo touting ‘new approach’
Reports about the contentious meeting came four days after Weiss,
who has become a polarizing figure in the media world since taking
the reins at CBS last October, told staff in a memo that it was time
for a “new approach” at the top-rated newsmagazine.
In the memo, Weiss and CBS News president Tom Cibrowski said their
goal was “building a show that thrives in the 21st century.”
“That requires a new approach,” they wrote, defining that approach
as “expanding ‘60 Minutes’ beyond a one-hour television broadcast,
deepening its role across CBS News, and holding everything we
produce to the ambition, fairness, and fearlessness that have
defined ‘60 Minutes’ at its best.”
Bilton, they said, “embodies the energy and ambition that animated
the founders of the show. We cannot imagine a better fit.”
The Status report noted that Pelley was applauded multiple times by
other staffers during the meeting. It said Pelley focused on the
firings last week, calling them cruel.
Bilton reportedly replied that he was not intimidated. “I have been
a journalist for 25 years, Scott," Status quoted him as saying. "I
have sat and talked with incredibly powerful people like you have.
None of it intimidates me, OK? So you are not going to intimidate me
in front of this group of people.”
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