Excerpt:
Brian Stelter, the widely followed CNN media commentator, described Pelley’s firing as like “an underwater earthquake at CBS News.”
“It’s not going to be visible on TV right away, but this is bound to have many ripple effects, and maybe a legal battle,” Stelter said in an appearance on CNN.
Didn’t Anderson Cooper also recently depart?
Seems like that show is hemorrhaging top talent, which is a shame, because I’ve always liked it.
The show is dead, which was the intent from the beginning.
It seems to me that they are taking the most watched and profitable news magazine on tv and gutting it with the intention of building it back up faster, stronger, better, like the old tv show used to say.
However, that seems profoundly stupid because it is a revenue generator and you’re throwing out all the goodwill developed over the years and brand equity. This could very well be cutting your nose off to spite your face, and will be unrecoverable.
Did 60 Minutes need to evolve? Probably. However, why wouldn’t you keep doing what has been working while you work to evolve it?
They brought in disruptors to make it evolve, but what if all they do is disrupt the profit? I guess CBS has Byron Allen on speed dial.
This really had nothing to do with profit or evolution. It’s just another step in the continued pandering required to make the Paramount deal go through.
The thing about 60 minutes that they can never get back is the long-time “brand equity” you described. Because that was built in a different media era that is not coming back, replicating it just won’t happen. When I see blurbs that Joe Rogan is someone they’re looking at, it becomes perfectly clear that they don’t want anything like 60 Minutes anymore, and that’s a shame.
Anyway, I admire Pelley for standing up for himself and his team, even though he knew how it was going to end.
Media·Jun 3, 2026 · BabylonBee.com
NEW YORK, NY — After the firing of longtime contributor Scott Pelley due to ongoing conflicts with producers, the long-running CBS News program 60 Minutes began its search for a new pompous blowhard.
Scott Pelley reported more than 300 segments for 60 Minutes over 21+ seasons since 2004, averaging roughly 12-15 in-depth stories per year. Each investigative piece typically takes months of work with a dedicated producer team. That output aligns with the ~$7M annual CBS salary estimate for a top correspondent.
That comes out to about $560,000 per story. Add this on to his comments about the new regime, they had no choice. Throw in this tidbit.
“The audience for CBS’s 60 Minutes skews heavily toward older adults with a median age consistently over 65, they figured they needed to reach a new audience. Also consider Leslie Stahl is 84 years old.
Both fiscally and emotionally necessary in the minds of the decision makers.
Then Coogfans has some qualified candidates
I’m excited about the firing. But it doesn’t achieve the moral objective: the collapse of that network.
They had a choice for both. The show is profitable, it wasn’t a fiscal decision.
Edit to add: He absolutely put himself on the chopping block, but they did not offer him a way forward after that confrontation like they say they did. Honestly, I don’t know if they should have.
What’s to be gained by canceling one of the major networks? That really only benefits the other networks at the expense of the public (and sports contracts).
I mean I’m certainly no fan of the f**k nuggets of Ellison, Weiss, and co.
But you can’t, you know, publicly call your bosses f*** nuggets, and get to keep your job. No matter how right I think he is, that’s just not how it works.
Eh, he was getting fired either way. He just made it more of a story.
It makes the grievance anger boner subside for a little bit.
True if you’re already getting fired calling your bosses what they are is always satisfying
"The correspondents get to become big stars that way on a show that has the best lead-in on TV - the NFL on Sundays” Brit Hume
Might make it a little harder to get hired somewhere else. At least, that’s how it works for most of us.
It’s all about the archives WB has that Paramount wants. Ginormous amounts just sitting there and not going to monetize themselves.
They want that merger bad and don’t mind a little kowtowing. Sux for everybody else tho. Get ready to pay more for content.
Scott Pelley ain’t like the rest of us. He won’t be at the unemployment window.
Perk of being rich already. I mean isn’t that all our goals to be able to have “F you” money
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