Former correspondent for “60 Minutes” Scott Pelley accused CBS News chief Bari Weiss of biasing media coverage in favor of President Donald Trump’s characterization of events in Minnesota and described a newsroom in turmoil under her leadership during an emotional New York Times interview published Sunday.
In his first interview since his dismissal last weekPelley alleged that Weiss attempted to influence a politically sensitive “60 Minutes” report on Anti-immigration protests in Minneapolis and said his intervention amounted to editorial interference he had never experienced before at CBS News.
“There was an inch on the scale of the president’s version of events that I thought was a level of political influence that I had never seen in my 37 years at CBS News,” Pelley told the New York Times.
Pelley said the dispute centered on a “60 Minutes” segment about the confrontation between protesters and federal agents during immigration enforcement operations in Minnesota, including the fatal shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good.
According to Pelley’s account, Weiss sent notes about the segment after it had already been approved for broadcast. He said one request sought to portray protesters as more violent and another involved describing the circumstances around Good’s death.
“Two of the things in the email include: Can we make the protesters more violent? Now, I’m paraphrasing. I don’t have the quote, but that’s what was communicated to me,” Pelley said. “And the other thing, Renee Good’s car. You have to describe it as heading towards the officer.”
Pelley said he and his producer had already “done everything possible” to include footage showing protesters behaving violently, including confrontations with law enforcement. He said they also viewed the video of the shooting involving Good and concluded that it did not support the characterization Weiss wanted to include in the piece.
According to Pelley, no changes were made based on Weiss’s notes.
CBS News rejected Pelley’s account in a statement to the New York Times and NBC News, saying Weiss had made “four points during editorial exchanges.”
“They had no political motivation and were proposed solely to make the article as strong, fair and accurate as possible,” the statement said. “As is often the case in any collaborative newsroom, not everything she raised was included in the final story.”
Pelley’s allegations were part of his broader criticism of CBS News’ leadership following the sale of Paramount, CBS’ parent company, to Skydance Media and the appointment of Weiss as the network’s executive editor.
Pelley was fired Tuesday after a heated meeting with new “60 Minutes” executive producer Nick Bilton, who he said lacked experience in television news.
Pelley told the Times that tension had been building for weeks following mass layoffs and leadership changes at “60 Minutes,” including the firing of executive producer Tanya Simon.
Pelley said he confronted Bilton during a staff meeting in which the new boss introduced himself to employees and read prepared remarks. Before the meeting, Bilton sent an email to staff that Pelley called “insulting” and outlined plans for a new generation of “60 Minutes” correspondents.
“And when I saw that, I thought, ‘They’re going to fire us all someday,'” Pelley said. “So that’s why I use these hyperbolic terms, certainly, for a journalist.”
Pelley described CBS News’ growing concerns after Paramount agreed to settle Trump’s lawsuit against the network in July 2025, a move announced just weeks before federal regulators approved David Ellison’s Skydance Media’s acquisition of the company. Pelley called the settlement a “bribe” intended to help gain approval for the deal, an allegation that Paramount denied.
The former CBS News reporter said Simon’s firing may have been linked to tensions over Anderson Cooper’s departure from “60 Minutes” at the end of his contract. Cooper, whose contract was not renewed, ended his latest appearance by saying he hoped “60 Minutes” would stay true to itself.
Simon was “blindsided” by her firing, according to Pelley, who tearfully described her as having grown up with CBS News since her father, Bob Simon, worked for the network.
“From what I understand from people directly involved in this interaction, Bari Weiss was quite furious that Anderson Cooper was allowed to say these things and that she, Bari, was not consulted first, which in the ordinary course of our business would not have been done anyway,” Pelley said. “I believe that’s part of the reason Tanya was fired.”
A CBS News spokesperson did not immediately respond to NBC News’ request for comment on Pelley’s description of Simon’s firing and his assertion that Weiss should be removed from his position at CBS News.
Pelley, who spent 37 years at CBS News as a White House correspondent, anchor of “CBS Evening News” and correspondent for “60 Minutes,” described the network’s leadership as lacking experience. He believes the network can recover, but he warns that trust within the newsroom has eroded.
“They don’t know what they’re doing,” Pelley said. “And there’s a subtle political bias that I’ve never seen on ’60 Minutes’ before, or on CBS News before. So that’s my hope: a return to sanity. We can salvage this. It’s possible to land this plane. But right now, CBS News is on fire.”
