Scott Pelley, one of the most respected figures in broadcast journalism, has been fired by CBS News after a clash with network executives over last week's severe cuts at 60 Minutes, the program he has been associated with since 2004, the Guardian has confirmed.
Background of the Conflict
While changes at 60 Minutes had been anticipated for some time, CBS News management shocked staff last week by terminating the executive producer, executive editor, and two correspondents, Cecilia Vega and Sharyn Alfonsi, without providing a specific reason for their dismissals.
During an extremely tense meeting on Monday morning with newly appointed executive editor Nick Bilton and another CBS News executive, Pelley rebuked Bari Weiss, the longtime opinion commentator who joined the network in October as editor-in-chief. "She's murdering 60 Minutes," Pelley said, as first reported by the Guardian. "She does not love this place. She was brought in to kill it and is doing exactly that."
Aftermath of the Meeting
A source close to the network indicated that executives had attempted to meet with Pelley after the terminations on Thursday, but he was unavailable. Pelley met with Weiss on Tuesday, and she conveyed that his behavior was inappropriate. Pelley then informed members of the show's staff that he expected to be terminated, sources said.
Later on Tuesday, Pelley received a message from Bilton informing him that he had been "terminated for cause effectively immediately." In the message, first reported by Puck's Dylan Byers, Bilton criticized Pelley's conduct during the meeting. "Yesterday, you hijacked my first meeting with staff to disparage me, my qualifications, and my intentions with remarkable incivility and contempt," he wrote.
Bilton also sent an email to the 60 Minutes staff announcing Pelley's termination. "You should hear this from me first. We have parted ways with Scott Pelley," he wrote in the message, obtained by the Guardian. "I know how much Scott meant to many of you, and I don't say this lightly. 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."
Impact on 60 Minutes
With journalist Anderson Cooper announcing earlier this year that he would be leaving the show, Pelley's departure leaves 60 Minutes with only three full-time correspondents months before the launch of its 59th season this fall: Lesley Stahl, Bill Whitaker, and L Jon Wertheim. (CBS News journalist and former evening news anchor Norah O'Donnell contributes to the show.) The show is expected to more readily utilize correspondents from across the network, though no new contributors were named as part of the announcement on Thursday.
"What I regret most is that this situation interfered with the conversation I had hoped to have with you about Season 59 and the future of this show," Bilton wrote in his message. "I realize this is a great deal of change in a very short time, and I wouldn't pretend otherwise. … What I will commit to is this: My unyielding support for each of you, the journalism that you do and what we will do together going forward."
Pelley's Public Statements
Last Wednesday, while presenting at the News & Documentary Emmy awards, Pelley publicly praised Alfonsi – hours after she announced that the network was not renewing her contract for reasons she said were punitive. "There have been many great 60 Minutes correspondents over the years. I see Sharyn Alfonsi in the audience," he said. Pelley also had extremely kind words for Santiago Campos, an 18-year-old high school senior who said – after accepting a scholarship funded by CBS News – that the network's current leadership "stains the legacy of Mike Wallace," the former 60 Minutes correspondent.
Pelley's Career at CBS
Pelley first joined CBS News in 1989. During his lengthy career at the network, he has reported from around the country and the world. He served as chief White House correspondent, and later as anchor and managing editor of the CBS Evening News from 2011 to 2017. He first joined the 60 Minutes franchise as a correspondent for the spin-off show 60 Minutes II in 1999.
On December 12, 2025, months after David Ellison's Skydance had acquired CBS parent company Paramount, and Weiss had been installed as editor-in-chief, Pelley told a crowd in Washington that he was satisfied with how the network's new management had treated 60 Minutes. "It's early yet, but what I can tell you is we are doing the same kinds of stories with the same kind of rigor, and we have experienced no corporate interference of any kind," he said when accepting an award honoring the legendary CBS anchorman Walter Cronkite.
Only nine days later, Alfonsi informed her colleagues that Weiss had spiked her story on a notorious prison in El Salvador for "political" reasons, ushering in one of the biggest controversies in the network's history.
Reactions from Colleagues
Rome Hartman, a longtime 60 Minutes producer who retired last year, praised Pelley as "among the all-time greats of CBS News and of 60 Minutes." He also called out Weiss and Bilton for terminating Pelley because he pushed back aggressively during a staff meeting, despite the anti-cancel culture positioning of Weiss's company the Free Press. "We SHOULD wrestle over important stuff," he wrote in a text message. "The irony is flammable!"
