\u201c60 Minutes\u201d correspondent Scott Pelley accused CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss of \u201cmurdering\u201d the venerable newsmagazine at a staff meeting Monday with Nick Bilton, the technology journalist tapped to oversee the show, according to an audio recording and a source who was in the room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bilton, a documentary filmmaker and former tech columnist at The New York Times, told \u201c60 Minutes\u201d staff members that Weiss \u201cloves this institution,\u201d the source said. Pelley interrupted Bilton and pushed back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cShe is murdering \u201860 Minutes.\u2019 She does not love this place,\u201d Pelley told Bilton, according to the audio recording. \u201cShe was brought in to kill it, and she\u2019s been doing exactly that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The meeting was intended to be Bilton\u2019s introduction to the \u201c60 Minutes\u201d team. In another tense exchange, the source said, Pelley said Weiss has \u201cno qualifications for her job\u201d and told Bilton he has \u201cslender qualifications\u201d for his new role as executive producer of \u201c60 Minutes,\u201d the leading newsmagazine on television.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
CBS News spokespeople did not immediately respond to NBC News\u2019 requests for comment. The details of the meeting were first reported by The Guardian.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Weiss, a former opinion columnist and the founder of the website The Free Press, hired Bilton as part of a push to overhaul CBS News and \u201c60 Minutes.\u201d In a major shake-up Thursday, CBS ousted Bilton\u2019s predecessor, \u201c60 Minutes\u201d veteran Tanya Simon, and fired two correspondents, Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Alfonsi and Weiss clashed late last year over a last-minute decision to postpone a \u201c60 Minutes\u201d segment about the Trump administration\u2019s deporting Venezuelan men to a notorious prison in El Salvador. Alfonsi said the story was pulled for \u201cpolitical reasons\u201d; Weiss said it was \u201cnot ready\u201d for air.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The story, titled \u201cInside CECOT,\u201d ultimately aired in January. It included statements from the White House and the Department of Homeland Security that were not in the original version.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pelley on Monday morning deplored the \u201ccatastrophic\u201d changes Weiss has made to the \u201cCBS Evening News,\u201d a show he hosted from 2011 to 2017. He asked Bilton why he had accepted a position at a show \u201cknowing that you would never be welcomed here,\u201d according to the recording.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI don\u2019t believe that will be the case,\u201d Bilton replied, according to the recording.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI have been a journalist for 25 years, Scott. I have sat and talked with incredibly powerful people like you have,\u201d Bilton added. \u201cNone of it intimidates me, OK?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Earlier in the meeting, Bilton attempted to allay concerns that \u201c60 Minutes\u201d would radically change under his tenure. \u201cThe journalism is the journalism,\u201d he said in part, according to the recording. \u201cThat is why I am here. That is why we are all here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Weiss was appointed last fall by David Ellison, a technology scion who took over CBS\u2019 parent company, Paramount, in an $8 billion merger with his media company, Skydance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ellison is poised to take control of Warner Bros. Discovery, the owner of CNN, in a $110 billion deal. It is unclear whether CBS News and CNN would be combined or operate independently if regulators approve the merger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
CBS News legend Dan Rather and dozens of other journalists urged Ellison in a letter released Monday to \u201cuphold the principle of editorial independence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe urge you to send a clear message to your staff, your viewers, and the broader public that you respect and value editorial independence and press freedom,\u201d the signers said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Paramount Skydance did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the letter Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bill Owens, the former executive producer of \u201c60 Minutes\u201d who resigned a year ago, took issue with CBS News\u2019 current leadership in a speech on Monday night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He called Weiss \u201can opinion writer who is best known for being an ideologue,\u201d and said his former colleagues were fired without any cause given.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey were fired by people who don\u2019t even know what we do. Who don\u2019t actually care,\u201d Owens said at the New York Press Club Journalism Awards. He said Bilton is a former columnist who has never worked in television news.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the final seconds of Monday\u2019s meeting, the source said, Bilton said he looked forward to speaking with staff members one-on-one in the coming days and weeks. \u201cEnjoy the bagels,\u201d Bilton said before he left the room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Seconds later, the people in the room applauded for Pelley, according to the recording.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThese people disgust him,\u201d according to a person close to Pelley. \u201cThey don\u2019t do what Scott and \u201860\u2019 do or stand for.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n