Veteran 60 Minutes journalist Scott Pelley fired after clash with CBS executives

CBS News fired veteran journalist and '60 Minutes' host Scott Pelley on Tuesday, after he had a difficult confrontation with network officials. Pelley had been at the network since 1989, but his time at the organisation came to an end after Monday's meeting with the network’s leadership. According to a New York Times report, Pelley accused editor-in-chief Bari Weiss of "murdering" the program he has hosted for many years, citing changes in its leadership team and two on-air correspondents.

Pelley shared a statement, making his position clear after being let go. "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," he wrote. "For my part, new management has instructed me to inject falsehoods and bias into a politically sensitive story."

The decision to sack Pelley comes at a time when Weiss has been dealing with internal tensions after replacing the entire leadership team of the '60 Minutes' program. It has regularly been one of the country's highest-rated weekly programs, with viewership up by 9% last year compared to the year prior. The report also states that Pelley had questioned Nick Bilton, the tech journalist who was made executive producer of '60 Minutes' recently, about the dismissal of Tanya Simon, the show's previous executive producer.

He also questioned Bilton's qualifications to lead the show, claiming that he would "never be welcome" at '60 Minutes.' Bilton was evidently displeased with Pelley's behavior and sent a letter to the veteran journalist informing him of his removal from the network. "Despite yesterday's misconduct, I had hoped that in sitting down with you today, we could find a path forward together," it read. "Your antipathy to the future of the show has come through loud and clear. And I have heard you. I therefore write on behalf of CBS News, Inc. ("CBS") to inform you that your employment with CBS is terminated for cause, effective immediately."

He also accused Pelley of "hijacking" his first meeting with his staff to "disparage me, my qualifications, and my intentions with remarkable incivility and contempt." Earlier on Tuesday, Pelley said that "incompetence and unprofessionalism in the new management have wreaked havoc" at the network. "The collapse of values at the top has become untenable," he added. Of late, the network has parted ways with multiple senior journalists, like correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega, who have critiqued Weiss' involvement in the program.

While '60 Minutes' is a part of the CBS Network, the program has enjoyed a great amount of autonomy over the years, which the staff is now unsure of under Weiss. She was appointed last year by CBS’s owner, David Ellison, with a view to overhauling the news division to adapt to the digital era. However, Weiss has little experience in broadcast journalism, as she was an opinion journalist who had been a longtime critic of the legacy media.