Gone in 60 minutes

It should have been the final straw. The new power couple of editorial failure — Bari Weiss and Nick Bilton — had fired legendary 60 Minutes journalist Scott Pelley. Why? Because he dared to question the fact that CBS had installed sycophants in its top ranks. Instead of standing in solidarity, correspondents Lesley Stahl, Bill Whitaker, and Jon Wertheim declared in a joint memo to staff that they’d stay on to save the program. “We don’t want to see 60 Minutes die,” they said. The kids in Weekend at Bernie’s held a similar position. The canary in the media coal mine isn’t just sick, it’s a charred skeleton. The remaining trio of correspondents at 60 Minutes said they were “deeply upset” by recent firings, which you should read in the tone of Maine Sen. Susan Collins saying she’s “deeply concerned” about any given policy fuckery. The correspondents added: “Newsrooms are not supposed to be run like dictatorships.” Well, there’s something we can agree upon. A good newsroom should lift up its reporters on the good days, and defend them on the worst days . Anything else is cowardice and negligence. A dictatorial newsroom is exactly what Pelley was protesting when he reportedly challenged management in a staff meeting and claimed that editor-in-chief Bari Weiss was “murdering 60 Minutes .” Weiss has already proved herself to be a blight on journalism , so it was at least generous of her to let new 60 Minutes executive producer Nick Bilton steal some of that spotlight. …