A star of CBS’s flagship investigative show 60 Minutes gave a knowing shout-out to a colleague on the program amid her bitter spat with the network’s MAGA-friendly new boss.
“There have been many great 60 Minutes correspondents over the years,” Scott Pelley, who’s been on the show for more than two decades, said Wednesday night while presenting the Mike Wallace Memorial Scholarship at the 47th annual News and Documentary Emmy Awards, at Lincoln Center, New York City.
“I see Sharyn Alfonsi there in the audience,” he went on, joining the crowd for more than 20 seconds of sustained applause. “One of our nominees tonight, for her great work.”
Pelley’s comments and their uproarious reception come as Alfonsi has locked horns with CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss. Alfonsi is unhappy with the direction the outlet has taken following a controversial merger last year between its parent company Paramount and Skydance, controlled by MAGA allies Larry and David Ellison.
Weiss does not appear to have attended the event. It is unclear at this stage whether she had planned to.
Alfonsi had torn into Weiss earlier in the day, accusing the conservative-leaning network chief of gutting 60 Minutes’ long-held and hard-earned reputation for fearless reporting.
She said that Weiss, whom David Ellison appointed following last year’s merger, has pushed CBS into “choosing access journalism over accountability and protecting power rather than scrutinizing it.”
Alfonsi also revealed in her furious statement that CBS has chosen not to renew her 60 Minutes contract after it expired on May 23. She attributed the move to an “editorial dispute” over 60 Minutes coverage that portrayed the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in a negative light. She said that questions from her and her agent about renewing the contract have met with “silence” from the network.
“This was not a routine corporate transition; it was a deliberate choice to penalize a journalist for refusing to sanitize factually accurate reporting,” she said. “It sends a chilling message to the entire newsroom.”
“In the coming days, network leadership may attempt to hide behind corporate euphemisms like ‘modernization’ and ‘restructuring’ to explain away my departure,” Alfonsi said. “Don’t be misled,” she went on, adding: “The message could not be clearer: my time at 60 Minutes is over.”
Status reported Thursday that, according to the terms of Alfonsi’s deal with CBS, she is now an “at-will employee unless CBS News formally terminates her employment.” The correspondent has also made clear she has no plans to resign, and that if Weiss wants her out of CBS News, she will have to explicitly say so.
“I’m not resigning,” she said in an interview with The New York Times. “If they want me gone because I did my job, they’ll have to fire me.” The whole affair, according to Status, has left staffers “distraught” and panicking about “the broader shakeup expected ahead of next season under Weiss.”
It follows after Anderson Cooper, a staple of the program for more than 19 years, walked away after his own quiet standoff with the new regime. The CNN anchor revealed in February that he would not extend his CBS deal, publicly chalking the move up to a wish to be more present for his children.
His send-off on the program’s May 17 season finale nevertheless doubled as a defense of the show’s editorial freedom. “I hope 60 Minutes remains 60 Minutes," he told viewers.
The Daily Beast has contacted CBS for comment on this story.
