“CBS Evening News” anchor Tony Dokoupil paid tribute to Scott Pelley after the former “60 Minutes” correspondent was fired on Tuesday following an explosive clash with the show’s new executive producer, Nick Bilton.
“When I started at CBS, Scott Pelley was in this very chair, and still doing a dozen stories a year for ‘60 Minutes,’” Dokoupil said during Wednesday night’s broadcast. “And amid all of that, still meeting every new correspondent to share his view of the mission here,” said Dokoupil. “He believed freedom of the press, to quote [James] Madison, was ‘the right that guaranteed all the others.’ And the stakes are always that high in that, if you’d made it to CBS News, you were among the best in the world. He worked every single day to live up to that standard.”
During a video compilation of Pelley’s career highlights, Dokoupil added, “He was in some ways a man from another era, and that’s not a knock. He didn’t watch the competition, he said, because he knew who he was. A journalist who valued truth at all costs.”
Pelley was let go from “60 Minutes” after he lashed out at Bilton during a staff meeting on Monday, telling the former NYT technology columnist that he had “slender qualifications” to be in charge of the historic news program. Bilton was inserted into leadership by CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss, whom Pelley accused of “murdering ‘60 Minutes’” during the same meeting.
Bilton was announced as the new “60 Minutes” boss after a bombshell move from Weiss, which saw the firing of longtime executive producer Tanya Simon and correspondents Cecilia Vega and Sharyn Alfonsi. Dokoupil’s comments are notable given that Weiss was the one who gave him the “Evening News” role.
Dokoupil isn’t the only CBS newsman to comment on this unprecedented time at the network. “60 Minutes” legend Steve Kroft told PBS NewsHour that the direction of the show under the guidance of Weiss has been “disastrous.”
“This is journalistic interference,” Kroft said. “It makes no business sense whatsoever. It’s the highest rated news program on television, and it has been that way for more than 50 years. The audience was up about 9% last year. Why would you mess with that?”