The Clock is Ticking, But Not Well, at 60 Minutes

We’ll begin this column with a hypothetical.

You are working for an organization/company where the morale is as low as possible. You and your colleagues don’t agree with any of the policies adopted by management.

One day, management announces the appointment of a new executive for your division.

At the first staff meeting with the new boss, designed to get-to-know one another, would you get up and tell the chief, he/she doesn’t deserve the job; that he/she “will never be welcome here.”

That’s what I thought.

But that’s what happened when Bari Weiss, CBS’ editor-in-chief, appointed Nick Bilton, the news executive producer of the revered news show, 60 Minutes.

Specifically, Pelley, in the presence of all, told Bilton he had “slender” qualifications for the job, and in his tirade, Pelley accused Weiss, who was not at the meeting, of “murdering 60 Minutes.”

We can be assured that Pelley’s attack improved morale and bodes well for the future of the program.

Bilton kept his cool, but told Pelley: “…I’ve sat across from incredibly powerful people like you have, and none of it intimidates me. OK? So, you are not going to intimidate me in front of this group of people. I want to be clear.”

The next day? Bilton fired Pelley. I will go out on a limb and offer that you would have done the very same thing. I know I would have.

In his letter to Pelley on the firing, Bilton wrote:

“You hijacked my first meeting with staff to disparage me, my qualifications, and intentions with remarkable incivility and contempt,” adding that Pelley’s outburst was a “performative display of hostility.”

Yet, Pelley was generally portrait as an unjust victim by the mainstream media.

Margaret Sullivan, who covers the media for The Guardian, wrote:

“While his bosses look (to varying degrees) like bumblers, cowards or corporate tools, Pelley will be remembered as a beacon of integrity and a symbol of righteous indignation – somebody willing to lose his job in order to speak truth to power.”

Really? Integrity? It reeks of sanctimony.

Let us assume that Pelley and his colleagues are right about their criticism of Weiss’ policies and that Bilton may be unqualified. The latter is pure speculation because he had not even had time to pick out curtains for his office.

How about meeting privately with Bilton to discuss the staff’s concerns? At the respective staff meeting, Bilton said he planned to meet with all one-on-one to discuss controversial concerns relating to 60 Minutes.

How about waiting a month or two or three and judge Bilton on his actions and new policies.

Then, if Pelley was still unsatisfied, he still did not have to express such outrage publicly. He simply could and should resign. That would have shown some class.

Why didn’t he take that route? Perhaps because a resignation does not come with a severance package which, in Pelley’s case, is probably quite handsome. He reportedly earns $7 million annually –- just a mite more than I receive for my columns from The Detroit Legal News (DLN) –- and he has been a 60 Minutes correspondent for 20 years. (Incidentally, I always considered him the best writer on the show, and I am also troubled by some of the political implications involving Trump.)

Or perhaps, Pelly, 68, already has a new job waiting in the wings. In his response to the firing, Pelley said:

“The leadership of 60 Minutes is no longer recognizable. The principles I hold dear are gone, and so I must leave as well.”

Leave? He was fired.

This incident is reminiscent of one involving Jeff Bezos, Amazon chief and owner of The Washington Post.

In January 2025, he fired Ann Telnaes, an editorial cartoonist for mocking him in a political cartoon.

Yes, the media was outraged that Bezos would not pay her to make fun of him in the paper he owns. Telnaes wrapped herself in the First Amendment. I guess she thinks she should have received a raise.

These issues give me the opportunity to commend my editors at The DLN. They are the very best I ever worked for –- the very, very best. And I am not just saying this to get better play –- or better pay –- for my columns. (I can’t count on much financial help with a severance package even if I’m fired.)

Back to Margaret Sullivan. If she really believes Pelley is a hero, I am waiting for her to publicly call her bosses “stupid” and “ignorant” whenever they change some of her copy or kill a piece.