CBS fires veteran correspondent Scott Pelley amid turmoil over direction of '60 Minutes'

Scott Pelley attends the CBS Fall Schedule Celebration at Paramount Studios on May 02, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. Frazer Harrison | Wireimage | Getty Images CBS News has fired high-profile "60 Minutes" correspondent Scott Pelley amid debate about the direction of the show, which has been a mainstay of the network's television lineup for decades. "Your employment with CBS News is terminated for cause effective immediately," Nick Bilton, the new executive producer of "60 Minutes," wrote to Pelley in a letter seen by CNBC. It was not immediately clear when the letter was sent. Pelley had previously said that Bari Weiss, the editor-in-chief of CBS News, was " murdering " "60 Minutes," according to NBC News. During a meeting on Monday, Pelley told Bilton he has "slender qualifications" for the role of executive producer of newsmagazine "60 Minutes," according to the NBC News report. Pelley didn't immediately comment to Reuters when contacted about the ouster. Bilton is a former New York Times technology columnist and has made several documentaries for HBO and Netflix . During an interview on May 28, he told CNBC that he first met Weiss socially in Los Angeles and later spent time with her working on two documentaries — "Unknown: Killer Robots" and "Biggest Heist Ever." Bilton replaced Tanya Simon as the show's executive producer. Simon had spent more than two decades at "60 Minutes" before being ousted last week. In contrast, Bilton has no experience running a TV news show. …