‘60 Minutes’ Turmoil: What to Know After Scott Pelley’s Firing

“60 Minutes,” a crown jewel of broadcast journalism, is known for breaking big stories. This week, it has found itself at the center of one.

Scott Pelley, a longtime “60 Minutes” correspondent and a former anchor of “CBS Evening News,” was fired on Tuesday after a contentious staff meeting where he admonished management and criticized the long-running show’s new direction.

It was the latest in a string of staffing changes and controversies since the network’s parent company was acquired last year and Bari Weiss, a former member of The New York Times’s opinion staff and a longtime critic of legacy media, was hired to lead the news division.

Here’s how CBS and “60 Minutes” ended up here.

CBS’s parent company, Paramount, is acquired

The shake-ups at CBS News began last year when the media company Skydance took over Paramount. The $8 billion deal placed Skydance’s founder, David Ellison, at the helm of a powerful media conglomerate.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/04/business/cbs-60-minutes-scott-pelley-bari-weiss.html