Tony Dokoupil paid tribute to Scott Pelley on CBS Evening News after CBS fired the longtime 60 Minutes anchor, a week marked by accusations of political bias, a leaked memo, and Pelley’s claim that management directed him to include unverified assertions.
Tony Dokoupil sat in “this very chair” on CBS Evening News on Wednesday, June 3—and used his second segment of the night to remember Scott Pelley, who had just been controversially fired from 60 Minutes.
“When I started at CBS. Scott Pelley was in this very chair. and still doing a dozen stories a year for 60 Minutes. And amid all of that. still meeting every new correspondent to share his view of the mission here. ” Dokoupil. 45. told viewers. “[Pelley] believed freedom of the press. to quote [James Madison]. was ‘the right that guaranteed all the others.’ And the stakes are always that high in that. if you’d made it to CBS News. you were among the best in the world. He worked every single day to live up to that standard.”.
Dokoupil looked back on Pelley’s 37 years at CBS, recalling “presidential interviews” with every leader from George W. Bush to Donald Trump, along with “more than 50 Emmy awards along the way.” He also framed Pelley’s approach to the job as something rooted in discipline and memory.
“[Pelley] was, in some ways, a man from another era, and that’s not a knock. He didn’t watch the competition, he said, because he knew who he was,” Dokoupil continued. “A journalist who valued truth at all costs. And always kept alive the memory of colleagues killed in the field. A reminder that his chosen line of work could be a dangerous one. But Pelley also made one major break from the past. He changed the signs around here. Under the CBS Evening News logo. where Scott Pelley’s own name would have been. he instead wrote the CBS Evening News with All of Us.”.
The segment ended with a direct thank-you. “Well, Scott, from all of us, thank you.”
The tribute landed amid a far more turbulent week inside CBS News. The upheaval began at a 60 Minutes staff meeting on Monday. June 1. when new executive producer Nick Bilton introduced himself to the team. Pelley. a longtime fixture on the show. took issue with Bilton’s qualifications during the meeting and accused CBS editor-in-chief Bari Weiss of “murdering” 60 Minutes by inserting political bias.
A leaked memo from Bilton followed, and Pelley was fired the next day. In the memo. Bilton—49—wrote to Pelley that his “antipathy to the future of the show has come through loud and clear.” Bilton then confirmed the end of Pelley’s employment: “I therefore write on behalf of CBS News. Inc. to inform you that your employment with CBS is terminated for cause effective immediately.”.
After his firing, Pelley broke his silence with an accusation aimed at the company’s motivations and methods. He accused CBS management of casting aside the news division’s legacy “to curry a moment of favor with the Trump administration.” He also pointed to the corporate backdrop. writing that Skydance Media—led by Trump ally David Ellison. the son of billionaire Larry Ellison—purchased CBS parent company Paramount last year.
Pelley’s statement sharpened the focus on editorial direction. “For my part, new management has instructed me to inject falsehoods and bias into a politically sensitive story. I’ve been told to include assertions that are unverified,” he claimed. Pelley also said that “politicians have been invited to choose correspondents for interviews on the broadcast. ” calling it “not how this is done.” He added that “incompetence and unprofessionalism in the new management have wreaked havoc. ” citing a specific moment: “In a case involving one of my stories. the entire program came within 19 minutes of not getting on the air at all.”.
Despite the criticism, Pelley said he believed others inside CBS News still share the same commitment to the work. “At 60 Minutes, we have fought harder than anyone knows to save the program that became an American icon. We owed that to our millions of viewers. I am deeply moved by the thousands of wishes we have received to ‘keep up the good fight,’” he wrote. “Most of the men and women of CBS News are still in that fight. But now the collapse of values at the top has become untenable. The leadership of 60 Minutes is no longer recognizable. The principles I hold dear are gone, and so I must leave as well.”.
CBS News denied that journalists faced political pressure over critical stories of the Trump administration.
Between Dokoupil’s on-air reverence for Pelley’s decades at CBS and the dispute now surrounding who set the boundaries for 60 Minutes, the contrast felt stark—one account anchored in mission and press freedom, the other in allegations of bias, unverified claims, and a newsroom in upheaval.
Scott Pelley Tony Dokoupil CBS Evening News 60 Minutes Nick Bilton Bari Weiss James Madison Skydance Media David Ellison Paramount Trump Emmy awards firing