Lance Liguez

alum @TexasTech @TAMUC | ex radio journo | program America's favorite college radio station @UTARadio | once quote tweeted by @peterframpton

[Tyler McBrien @TylerMcBrien]

NEW: A stunning new project from @lawfare's Katherine Pompilio finds that 97 Jan. 6ers who received clemency for their role in the Capitol riot then got arrested, charged, and/or convicted with subsequent crimes—a number much higher than previously reported.

[Ben Mullin @BenMullin]

Scott Pelley just issued a statement on Bari's remarks this morning:

[Dylan Byers @DylanByers]

New statement from Scott Pelley:

There has never been anything in America like 60 Minutes.

The Sunday tradition is the most successful program of any kind in history. For more than a decade, its innovative growth on every major online platform has extended its reach to countless millions around the world. This spring, at the end of our 58thseason, 60 Minutes grew rapidly with an unheard-of 9% jump in viewers on CBS.

“60” has been the number-one program in America for decades because our beloved audience finds integrity, quality, and humanity in our stories. When stewardship of the program passed to my colleagues and me, our responsibility was to expand energetically into a new age of media technology while preserving the values our audience expects. Now, the new owner of our network is casting this legend aside, apparently to curry a moment of favor with the Trump administration.

The waste is heartbreaking.

Last month, 60 Minutes lost its DNA when our entire senior leadership and two of our best on-air correspondents were cruelly fired without cause. Good people were silenced because they stood up for our audience. They stood for fairness against the forces of political bias; they stood for professionalism against chaos.

For my part, new management has instructed me to inject falsehoods and bias into a politically sensitive story. I’ve been told to include assertions that are unverified. To date, in every case, I have managed to ignore these instructions or refuse them. Recently, politicians have been invited to choose correspondents for interviews on the broadcast. Giving politicians control over 60 Minutes interviews is not how this is done. Finally, incompetence and unprofessionalism in the new management have wreaked havoc. In a case involving one of my stories, the entire program came within 19 minutes of not getting on the air at all.

At 60 Minutes, we have fought harder than anyone knows to save the program that became an American icon. We owed that to our millions of viewers. I am deeply moved by the thousands of wishes we have received to “keep up the good fight.” Most of the men and women of CBS News are still in that fight. But now the collapse of values at the top has become untenable. The leadership of 60 Minutes is no longer recognizable. The principles I hold dear are gone, and so I must leave as well.

I depart after 37 years at CBS with one emotion—a heart brimming with gratitude for the men and women of CBS News who encouraged and enriched my work, very often at the risk of their own lives. I pray for a day when those people and their ideals are honored again—a day when sanity, competence, and courage return.

Scott Pelley

[Lance Liguez @Liguez]

Happy Pride Day @POTUS

[Lance Liguez @Liguez]

Damaged by Queensryche

[All Rock Music @allrockmusic]

What’s a 90s heavy alternative song that still hits harder than most modern rock?

[Michael M. Grynbaum @grynbaum]

Cecilia Vega, who was fired today by CBS, tells me: “I very much fear what comes next for and the future of” 60 Minutes.

Her full statement below:

[Variety @Variety]

Student Scholarship Winner Calls Out CBS at News Emmys: ‘The Recent Direction of the Outlet Stains the Legacy of Mike Wallace’ https://t.co/gPvTFTItft

[Terry Moran 🇺🇸 @TerryMoran]

When Nixon's Attorney General threatened Katherine Graham, publisher of The Washington Post over Watergate--she defied him, and made history.

When Trump's White House raged about 60 Minutes' story on CECOT prison--a solid story--Bari Weiss got rid of the reporter.

RIP CBS News

[Dylan Byers @DylanByers]

NEW: Sharyn Alfonsi goes scorched earth on Bari Weiss:

"Over the weekend, my contract with CBS News expired, drawing to a close nearly twenty years with the network, including more than a decade at 60 Minutes.

Following an intense editorial dispute over our CECOT story, repeated attempts by my representation to establish a path forward were met with absolute silence from network executives. The message could not be clearer: my time at 60 Minutes is apparently over.

In the coming days, network leadership may attempt to hide behind corporate euphemisms like "modernization" and “restructuring” to explain away my departure. Don't be misled. This was not a routine corporate transition; it was a deliberate choice to penalize a journalist for refusing to sanitize factually accurate reporting, and it sends a chilling message to the entire newsroom.

Fearless, independent reporting has always been the defining standard at 60 Minutes. Today, CBS management is abandoning that mission, choosing access journalism over accountability and protecting power rather than scrutinizing it.

The wall between editorial independence and corporate interest at CBS is being methodically torn down. Journalists willing to challenge authority are being pushed aside in favor of those who will not. If this continues, the result will be a broadcast that looks like 60 Minutes but lacks the courage and character to produce journalism that matters.

To my colleagues, who became family - working beside you has been the privilege of a lifetime. You are second to none. I’ve learned exactly what it costs to hold the line right now. Hold it anyway. Viewers and the people who trust us with their stories deserve nothing less."

Backstory:

- January: https://t.co/l518elnE4b

- April: https://t.co/8pWTTjOIbk

- May: https://t.co/LfKHnm18nF

[Amee Vanderpool @girlsreallyrule]

Since acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has confirmed that “Anybody in this country is eligible to apply if they believe they are a victim of weaponization,” I decided to apply for reparations.

Here is a template and directions to apply: https://t.co/HFwKvrf0Ik

[Lance Liguez @Liguez]

@townbrad You gotta get a a mic for your phone, a single clip on you can put on the table, receiver plugs into your phone. Might I suggest @DJIGlobal @rodemics or @Hohem_tech. As low as $59

[Mike Young @micyoung75]

On May 4, The Washington Post won two Pulitzers. To stream the announcement live, the paper had to bring back two of the video operators it had laid off in February. Nobody left in the building could run the equipment. They walked past the new opinion studio on their way in.

The new opinion studio was built with $80,000 in video gear. Its flagship podcast has 515 YouTube subscribers after 186 videos and more than 20 episodes. Apple Podcasts users have given it 2.3 stars. The most positive review on record: "This is bad and the people making it should feel bad."

Dave Jorgenson, the journalist who built WaPo's TikTok presence, left last year. His personal YouTube channel now has 358,000 subscribers. The opinion podcast has 515. A former WaPo journalist working with a small team has built more than 600 times the audience of the flagship new show.

Bezos was warned by his own opinion editor that the rightward pivot would cost subscribers. His documented response, per the New York Times: "I don't care."

The piece's own summary is the only sentence needed: "Bezos laid off the people who win the Pulitzers. He's funding the people who lose the subscribers."

[Lance Liguez @Liguez]

Only NOW he fears for the GOP? Good lord.

[Bud Kennedy / #ReadLocal @BudKennedy]

Text from an older Republican friend: “I’m devastated. I now fear for the GOP.” #txsen

[Rob Freund @RobertFreundLaw]

ChatGPT allegedly shares your chat query topics, user IDs, and email addresses with Google and Meta, according to a new class action lawsuit filed today.

[Tyler McBrien @TylerMcBrien]

🚨 NEW TOOL for U.S. legal journalists ⚖️

I turned @allyjarmanning's incredible crowdsourced Google doc on accessing state court records into an interactive map.

Check it out and let me know about any errors, missing information, or ways I can improve this thing (link below)

[Marc E. Elias @marceelias]

A really tough week.

I am doing everything I can to spread the word about the threats to democracy and how we can fight back. You can help me by subscribing to Democracy Docket for free and sharing its content with everyone you know. Thanks. https://t.co/bZLgVCQ4Xq

[UTA Radio.com @UTARadio]

We still have seats in @utacomm for summer I podcasting. Sign up today, class begins June 1st!

[Texas Tribune @TexasTribune]

A recent survey of hoteliers in the Dallas area and Houston found anticipated demand is not translating into strong hotel bookings less than 40 days from the start of the FIFA World Cup. https://t.co/9gdYnFrC1Q

[ProPublica @propublica]

Babies were found with dead brain tissue similar to what follows cancer and the kind of bleeding seen after a stroke.

Their autopsies all came to the same conclusion: Their deaths could have been prevented with a long-standard vitamin shot.
https://t.co/qhA1oWRht7

[Smithsonian Magazine @SmithsonianMag]

Australia is on track to become the first country to eliminate cervical cancer, largely because of a national vaccination program to prevent the disease. https://t.co/T5KWI7bqso