CBS News fired longtime "60 Minutes" correspondent and former "CBS Evening News" anchor Scott Pelley a day after he had a tense and contentious exchange with new "60 Minutes" executive producer Nick Bilton during a staff meeting.
Bilton notified Pelley of his resignation in a letter on Tuesday evening.
«"Yesterday's show of hostility, played out in front of staff instead of a civilized, private conversation, demonstrated that you have no interest in contributing to the show's future success or in approaching my new position with an open mind to collaboration and progress," Bilton wrote.
Bilton wrote to Pelley that he "broke up my first meeting with the staff in order to discredit me, my qualifications and my intentions with astonishing impoliteness and contempt.".
In the letter, Bilton also said they met privately again on Tuesday, but, he wrote, Pelley "made it clear" at that second meeting that he was "not interested" in "finding a way forward together.".
In a separate memo sent to the "60 Minutes" staff announcing that CBS News had "parted ways" with Pelley, Bilton wrote: "I know how much Scott meant to many of you, and I'm not saying this lightly. I tried to speak with him directly multiple times over the weekend, and I tried to find common ground this afternoon. Scott chose the wrong path.".
CBS News has not yet commented on the dismissal.
At a Monday introductory meeting for the entire "60 Minutes" staff that included Bilton, Pelley accused CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss of "destroying the program" and said Bilton was "poorly qualified" for the job, according to multiple reports.
Last week, Weiss named Bilton the new executive producer.
Status, a media news and analysis publication that claimed to have obtained a recording of the meeting, reported that Pelley began questioning Bilton about the dismissal last week of her predecessor, Tanya Simon, as well as correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega.
According to Status, Pelley also claimed that Weiss herself "wasn't qualified for her job" and said the changes she made to the CBS Evening News, where Pelley once anchored the news, "were disastrous.".
The report also stated that Bilton insisted that "Bari loves this place" and "she loves 60 Minutes," to which Pelly retorted, "She's killing 60 Minutes. She doesn't love this place. She was brought in to destroy it, and that's exactly what she's doing.".
In a statement to Variety following his firing, Pelley said: "Last month, '60 Minutes' lost its original essence when our entire senior management team and two of our best correspondents were brutally fired without cause. Good people were silenced because they stood up for our audience. They stood up for justice against the forces of political bias; they stood up for professionalism against chaos.".
He added: "As for me, the new management tasked me with inserting lies and bias into a politically sensitive story. I was told to include unsubstantiated claims. So far, I've managed to ignore or refuse these instructions every time. Recently, politicians were asked to select correspondents for on-air interviews. Giving politicians control over interviews on '60 Minutes' is the wrong approach. Finally, the incompetence and unprofessionalism of the new management have caused enormous damage. In the case of one of my stories, the entire program almost failed to air.".
A source close to CBS News executives, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press that both Weiss and Bilton tried to contact Pelley late last week, as changes rocked the 57-year-old program, to tell him he was an integral part of "60 Minutes" and wanted him to remain so.
Weiss and Bilton were disappointed that Pelley's allegations were made public despite their efforts to communicate with him privately, the person said.
The New York Times, which also reported obtaining a recording of Monday's meeting, noted that Pelley's "anchorman baritone" trembled during the conversation. The newspaper also quoted an unnamed executive present at the meeting as saying that Weiss was willing to attend, but "we asked her not to.".
The progress report noted that Pelley received several rounds of applause from other employees during the meeting. It stated that Pelley focused on the previous week's layoffs, calling them "brutal.".
Bilton reportedly replied that he was not concerned.
«"I've been a journalist for 25 years, Scott," he said.
Status quoted Bilton as saying, "I've sat and talked to incredibly powerful people like you. None of that intimidates me, okay? So you're not going to intimidate me in front of this group of people.".
Reports of the controversial meeting emerged four days after Weiss told staff in a memo that it was time for a "new approach" at the leading news magazine.
In a memo, Weiss and CBS News President Tom Cibrowski said their goal was to "create a show that will thrive in the 21st century.".
«"This requires a new approach," they wrote, defining that approach as "expanding 60 Minutes beyond its hour-long broadcast, deepening its role within CBS News, and aligning everything we produce with the ambition, fairness, and fearlessness that distinguished 60 Minutes in its heyday.".