Many people are reeling right now because Scott Pelley, a longtime reporting correspondent on 60 Minutes and CBS News, was ditched this week. The reactions are varied, but a sense of disappointment seems very strong. Read on for more.
The Media Report
The Hollywood Reporter, late on June 2, noted that he clashed “with the show’s new executive producer, Nick Bilton, in a fiery meeting with the show’s staff Monday.”
Well, his termination wasn’t long in coming, and the outlet went on to add, “Bilton informed Pelley of his termination Tuesday evening, writing in a note that his employment was “terminated for cause effective immediately.”
The Backstory
The backstory, and there always is one, is that allegedly, Scott Pelley, dished Bilton some very strong criticism, including claiming that ‘CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss is “murdering 60 Minutes.”‘
More followed with direct criticism of Bilton. As you can imagine, a man with decades of steady reporting getting fired for daring to level criticism at the team, took a lot of people aback.
Lots Of People Reacted
When the THR shared the news on Instagram, plenty of folks weighed in. Some for Pelley and others for Bilton et al. But one comment stood out. One commenter penned, “As a decades long watcher of 60 Minutes, I’m done watching! That was the third strike for me. A sad day for journalism.”
Notably, it seemed it was a short comment that stretched beyond the immediate news of Scott Pelley being fired. And that’s because it referred, probably, to a pattern of events.
A News Outlet Losing Credibilty?
The sentiment expressed in the short comment, could be extrapolated out to suggest that the news organization lost credibility.
Like many others, that single comment reflected how many folks admire Pelley and his long association with news reporting and excellent investigative journalism.
It can therefore, be concluded that for lots of people, the unexpected firing feels like the end of an era.
Many Assumptions
The post on Instagram also showed readers suggesting that management interferes with journalism. As the writer reacted to Pelley criticizing new leadership and being fired afterward, it’s easy to imagine that people assume management got rid of a journalist who spoke up.
Talking about “three strikes,” others also noticed a trend because there have been editorial decisions, ownership changes, other departures, and more.
Perhaps they see it as corporate folks taking control of the way news gets reported these days.
Fact Checking
The claim that Scott Pelley was fired by CBS, after clashing with Nick Bilton, executive producer of 60 Minutes, and Bari Weiss is editor-in-chief of CBS News, are all major assertions. So it seemed crucial to check it out elsewhere.
Well, apart from Hollywood Reporter, it was covered by other mainstream outlets like AP News. AP cited Scott Pelley as saying in a statement that “60 Minutes” has lost its DNA under new management. He accused them of asking him to “inject falsehoods and bias” into his work.”
Explaining The Reaction
The quote could certainly explain why the commenter on Instagram wrote what they did. Looking at it another way, they didnt’t just sympathise by saying “Poor Scott Pelley got fired.”
Rather, they leaned into something like, “The institution I trusted for decades is no longer the institution I trusted.”
The Debate Likely Continues
Probably, people should expect many more comments to arrive in debates over the next few weeks.
After all, CBS News can always claim that they didn’t fire Scott for his views. They could point to the meeting and suggest they fired him for how he behaved in a staff meeting.
Naturally, supporters of Scott Pelley will likely argue that the meeting was a pretext to eradicate dissent.
What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments below, and remember to come back here often for all your celebrity news and updates.