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If you thought there was a ruckus on “60 Minutes,” that was a piece of cake compared to what happened yesterday.
Bari Weiss has been attacked by journalists and commentators since she became editor-in-chief of CBS, primarily by liberals and leftists who are convinced she is a crazy conservative. That’s not true, and I’ve mostly defended her, but she’s made some rookie mistakes because she’s never worked in television.
So even as headlines swirled around President Donald Trump’s decision to abandon the $1.8 billion “anti-weapons” fund (made possible because many Republicans joined Democrats in openly criticizing the fund for the January 6 rioters), Weiss faces his own rebellion.
He first fired “60 Minutes” correspondents Cecilia Vega and Sharyn Alfonsi (whose story about a Salvador prison he withheld, but was published intact after Trump officials failed to appear), along with executive producer Tanya Simon.
SCOTT PELLEY HAS A HOT CONFRONTATION WITH THE NEW ’60 MINUTES’ BOSS AND ACCUSES BARI WEISS OF ‘MURDERING’ SHOW
Bari Weiss has been attacked by journalists and commentators since he became editor-in-chief of CBS. (Michele Crowe/CBS News via Getty Images)
Ratings for “CBS Evening News” have plummeted under new anchor Tony Dokoupil, though it’s not all his fault: CBS didn’t get him a visa for Trump’s trip to Beijing and he had to report from Taiwan.
But “60 Minutes” has always been different, the crown jewel of the old Tiffany network. It operates from a separate building, across Manhattan’s Tenth Avenue. Its ratings have been fantastic, and the show also generates revenue: more than $200 million in advertising for the network.
After 58 years on the air, it is averaging an impressive 9.1 million viewers, a 9% increase from last season, and has a substantial digital presence.
SHARYN ALFONSI OUT ON ’60 MINUTES’ AFTER FIGHT WITH BARI WEISS, RIPS CBS OVER ‘HIDDEN MESSAGE’ TO EDITORIAL ROOM
But that’s why I think Weiss, whom I interviewed, made a big mistake by hiring tech journalist Nick Bilton to run the news magazine.
He may be a great guy, but he’s never worked in the broadcasting business either. It’s almost like it’s a disqualification in the Weiss era.
The middle of the Big Three has experienced repeated turbulence since the Weiss acquisition. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Bilton has worked for the New York Times and Vanity Fair. He met Weiss while they were working together on some documentary projects.
“When you take an insider and put them inside a company, nothing changes,” Bilton told the Times. “I’m not saying we’re going to change the program completely and drastically.”
“If you don’t disturb, you yourself will be disturbed,” he says, according to Variety. “There’s nothing I like more than picking a fight.”
But yesterday, a prominent member of the “60” team, Scott Pelley, fought back forcefully, his voice cracking at times.
During an angry staff meeting, Pelley, a former evening news anchor, said of Weiss: “She’s murdering ’60 Minutes.'” She doesn’t love this place. “She was brought in to kill him and she’s been doing exactly that.”
That’s according to a recording of the meeting obtained by the Times.
Pelley was just getting started: “She has no qualifications for her job; you have little qualifications for this job. The changes she’s made at the ‘Evening News’ have been catastrophic, so why should we expect any of this to be any better?”
“She’s killing ’60 Minutes.'” She doesn’t love this place. She was brought in to kill him and she’s been doing exactly that,” correspondent Scott Pelley said of Weiss. (David M. Russell/CBS via Getty Images)
Bilton responded, “I’ll show you… I’ll meet everyone. I’m very excited to meet everyone, including yourself.”
Pelley pressed the show’s new head about why he took the job, “knowing you’ll never be welcome here.”
That sparked some reactions: “I’ve been a journalist for 25 years, Scott. I’ve sat in front of incredibly powerful people like you, and none of it intimidates me.”
Weiss was apparently asked to stay away from the meeting.
Look, Bilton may have some good ideas. In the past, the network created “60 Minutes II,” which ran for seven seasons, but failed after a Dan Rather segment on George W. Bush and the National Guard turned out to be based on falsified documents, and both CBS and the host apologized.
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So here is the dilemma. Pelley and Lesley Stahl are the show’s featured hosts.
If Weiss fires Pelley for his comments, it will look like he can’t take criticism and is retaliating for free speech. The media will frame it as pure intolerance on your part.
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If she stays with Pelley, she’ll have to agree to work with someone who has been so openly critical of her and her new boss at the show.
This battle within CBS News for its most successful franchise is far from over.