Scott Pelley accused CBS News management under Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss of trying to inject “falsehood and bias” into reporting after the veteran reporter was fired Tuesday.
Pelley, who spent 37 years at CBS News and became one of the most recognizable faces of “60 Minutes,” made a series of unusual allegations against the leadership of CBS News without providing details.
“For my part, the new administration ordered me to introduce lies and bias into a politically sensitive issue,” Pelley wrote. “I was told to put in unverified statements.”
Pelley said he repeatedly resisted those efforts.
“Until now, in all cases, I have been able to ignore or reject these orders,” he said.
He also pointed out that politicians are empowered in planning decisions.
“Recently, politicians have been invited to choose their radio interviewees,” Pelley wrote. “Giving politicians control of the 60 Minutes interview is not how this is done.”
Pelley appeared to be speaking about a Post exclusive that found Weiss had allowed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to select CBS news reporter Major Garrett as a reporter to interview him — even though “60 Minutes” star Lesley Stahl was surprised he sat down for months.
Garrett’s interview with Netanyahu aired on “60 Minutes” although it is not part of the correspondents’ regular schedule.
In his first public statement since CBS News terminated his employment, Pelley criticized the network’s new leadership and said “the lowering of standards at the top is no longer acceptable” following the recent layoffs of executive producers and writers.
“Last month, 60 Minutes lost its DNA when all of our senior leadership and two of our best on-air writers were brutally fired without cause,” Pelley wrote in a statement posted on Instagram early Wednesday.
“Good people were silenced because they stood up for our audience. They stood up for fairness against the forces of political partisanship; they stood up for professionalism against chaos.”
The broadside comes days after Pelley confronted “60 Minutes” executive producer Nick Bilton during a contentious staff meeting.
According to reports from the meeting, Pelley accused Weiss of “killing ’60 Minutes'” and said he was “brought in to kill her and did just that.”
CBS News terminated Pelley after the conflict, which capped a tumultuous week that also saw the departure of executive producer Tanya Simon, reporters Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega, executive producer Draggan Mihailovich, veteran producer Guy Campanile and staffer Matthew Polvoy.
Pelley also accused the administration of “incompetence and misconduct” that caused unrest inside the newsroom.
“In a case that affects one of my stories, the whole program came within 19 minutes without going on the air at all,” he wrote.
Pelley also took aim at Paramount Skydance, saying the company undermined “60 Minutes” while “obviously” seeking “to curry favor with the Trump administration.”
Despite the acrimonious split, Pelley ended his statement by praising his former colleagues.
“I leave after 37 years at CBS with one emotion — a heart overflowing with gratitude for the men and women of CBS News who have inspired and enriched my career,” he wrote.
CBS News did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
