Scott Pelley Urges CBS Remove Bari Weiss: Trust Broken

Former “60 Minutes” correspondent Scott Pelley told The New York Times that CBS should remove Bari Weiss as editor-in-chief, saying trust has broken between network colleagues and leadership. Pelley, fired Tuesday, also pushed back on criticism from President

Scott Pelley didn’t mince words in a lengthy interview with The New York Times on Sunday. He said CBS should remove Bari Weiss as editor-in-chief, arguing that “trust is broken” between colleagues still at the network and the network’s leadership.

Pelley acknowledged that Weiss is, personally, someone he respects. “She’s a ‘lovely person. ’” he told the paper. adding that her Free Press organization—founded by Weiss—has been “very successful.” But he said television is a different kind of craft. making the job switch feel misfit. “Television’s not her thing. ” he said. describing it as “like somebody walking up to me and saying. ‘There’s a 747. there are 400 people on it. we need you to fly it to Paris.’”.

He went further on why the role doesn’t appear right for Weiss. Pelley said he would have preferred she take himself out of the equation by declining the post—suggesting she should have stepped back if she didn’t feel equipped. “I’m going to decline because I don’t have a clue. ” he said. adding it would have been “so much better” if Weiss had been offered the job and responded. “Oh. that’s not for me. I don’t know how to do that.”.

Pelley’s remarks landed just after he was fired from the network on Tuesday. In the same interview, he also defended himself against comments from President Trump, who said Pelley represented “stupid, crooked people that don’t care about your country.”

Pelley answered point by point. “Stupid?. I can take that. Stiff?. Yeah, probably. Don’t care about the country?. I’ve never worn the uniform. ” he said. before laying out his own service history: “But I’ve been in combat for this country. in Afghanistan and Iraq. Kuwait.” He added that he has “been shot at. spent nights in foxholes filling up with water in the desert. ” and then challenged Trump directly: “I’m not aware that the president of the United States has ever done any of those things for his country. Please correct me if I’m wrong.”.

From there, Pelley tied his career to his constitutional belief. “You become a journalist because you love the First Amendment. You become a journalist because you love the country,” he said. “And while all the other descriptions that the president used about me might be applicable, not that one. There is no democracy without journalism. It can’t be done. That is why I am a journalist.”.

The interview also turned to criticism Weiss and Nick Bilton have made about CBS News and its ability to reach a younger audience. Pelley rejected their argument. saying it sounded “disingenuous.” He described it as if they had been “sealed in a time capsule in 1990” until “it just cracked open.” Then. he said. they “just discovered the internet.”.

At CBS News, Pelley said, the network is already working in the online space. “Join the fight,” he said. “We started our first ’60 Minutes’ online show, ’60 Minutes Overtime,’ in 2010. I shoot TikTok verticals, or I used to shoot TikTok verticals on every assignment. We’re there. We’re everywhere.”

One of Pelley’s most personal moments came when he addressed Tanya Smith’s firing in late May. calling it brutal in scale and effect. “It’s like your spouse being murdered,” he said. He insisted the pain wasn’t about him. “I don’t care about me. It’s not about me,” he added. “I am not emotional about this because I have lost this job. I’ve done it for a long time. I’ve had the greatest experiences. But the people I leave behind, treated in this way?. That breaks my heart, and it’s going to take me a long time to get over it.”.

He also offered a family-history reference around CBS News. “The Simon family is legendary at CBS News. ” he said. pointing to Tanya Smith’s father. “a famous Vietnam correspondent” who then had “Bob Simon” cover “every single war. everywhere in the world throughout his entire career.” Pelley said he personally learned from Bob Simon. including an experience in Kuwait during the Gulf War in 1990. when they watched missiles come in from “the roof of the hotel” and where Simon “taught me how to be a war correspondent.”.

Pelley then criticized the way Smith was handled. returning to what he saw as a lack of respect for experience and time. “And then Tanya Simon comes in. She’s at the broadcast 30 years,” he said. “There is no respect for that. Get out of the office by five o’clock?. What company in the world treats their precious people that way?”.

As for the broader shakeups at CBS News. Pelley said recent dismissals and departures were connected to the same issue: “Weiss’ own experience in broadcast journalism.” He blamed inexperience. saying it was the “larger part of the problem.” The staff. he said. has been forced to cover gaps tied to “missteps in terms of our production and the technical aspects of television.” “It’s been enormously stressful. ” he said.

Weiss, he noted, previously worked for the Wall Street Journal and the Times before founding The Free Press.

Scott Pelley Bari Weiss CBS editor-in-chief 60 Minutes The New York Times trust is broken President Trump Tanya Smith Nick Bilton Free Press 60 Minutes Overtime TikTok verticals