Ex-60 Minutes anchor says CBS ordered him to ‘put the thumb on the scale’ for Trump - The Independent
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Fired 60 Minutes anchor Scott Pelley has claimed that under CBS News’ editor-in-chief Bari Weiss, there was “an imperative” to “put a thumb on the scale” when covering the Trump administration.
Pelley, who was fired from the network in June, blasted his former employer Wednesday while appearing on a panel about truth and corporate power in journalism, hosted by the group Speak Up for Justice.
“There was an imperative to move our coverage in the direction of the president to put a thumb on the scale, if you will, in terms of the president's viewpoint,” he said. “I was at CBS News almost 40 years and at 60 Minutes almost 30 years and I had never seen anything like this.”
“This was corporate influence coming into the news division saying, ‘We want you to report stories with this particular bent, in terms of politics,’” Pelley told the panel. “We pushed back against it and that led to last year, the complete gutting of 60 Minutes in which, in one morning, without warning, or still today without explanation.”
The Independent has contacted CBS News for comment.
Pelley was fired from CBS in early June after he reportedly accused Weiss of destroying the program. “She is murdering 60 Minutes. She does not love this place. She was brought in to kill it, and she’s been doing exactly that,” Pelley said at a heated staff meeting, according to an audio recording obtained by The New York Times.
Weiss, the founder of “anti-woke” digital outlet The Free Press, joined CBS News a year ago following Skydance’s acquisition of Paramount. Since then, her editorial decisions have drawn intense scrutiny and critics have accused her ofshaping coverage to favor the Trump administration.
Weiss has previously pushed back on the accusation. “What’s being called ‘editorial interference’ is in reality the job description of an editor-in-chief,” she told The Wall Street Journal in June.
But after a year at the helm of the network, ratings are plummeting and the insiders have claimed that no one can speak against Weiss.
“She doesn’t hear anybody. If you don’t agree with what she’s saying or doing, it doesn’t matter. She pretends to hear ideas, but she really doesn’t listen to anyone,” an unnamed source told Page Six.
“No one can say, ‘That’s a bad idea.’ She looks at you like, ‘You don’t agree with what I’m saying,’ but there isn’t anybody who gets through to her,” the insider added.
But another source was more positive about Weiss. “I think most senior leaders across the organization think that she brings a ton of value with her ideas and perspective, and would also say that she is a great listener, who incorporates many other ideas and suggestions into the organization’s work,” a source told Page Six.
