Maxwell Mutanda

(he/him) lecturer @ucl @BartlettArchUCL; associate lecturer @RCA; @studiodtale; @clubzero_co fellow; @buildstudios trustee; @CanLager volunteer; neurodivergent

[Brian Stelter @brianstelter]

Scott Pelley's firing is like an underwater earthquake at CBS News – not visible on TV right away, but guaranteed to have many ripple effects

[Ben Mullin @BenMullin]

Scott Pelley’s full statement: “The waste is heartbreaking.”

https://t.co/EX2IinuLlv

[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

[TheWrap @TheWrap]

“Acquiring CBS News came with a legal requirement to serve the public interest, avoid political interference and maintain editorial independence." https://t.co/6hzeexsxSt

[HowardKurtz @HowardKurtz]

Bari Weiss, with no TV experience, hires tech journalist with no experience to run "60." Staff revolts, Scott Pelley saying Weiss has murdered the show and new boss Nick Bilton minimally qualified. Wouldn't firing all-star Pelley
look like retaliation? https://t.co/md2XmDCEhg

[Sophie Mokoena @Sophie_Mokoena]

Malawi has announced that it will assist its citizens who want to leave South Africa. #sabcnews

[AJ+ @ajplus]

“You don’t see this in Ireland… you see this in America.”

Vigils were held across Ireland after Yves Sakila, a 35-year-old Congolese man, died after being detained by Irish security staff. Many protesters drew parallels to the police murder of George Floyd.

[Emmanuel Macron @EmmanuelMacron]

Confiance et unité.
Donnez tout ! 🇫🇷

[Reuters Africa @ReutersAfrica]

French President Emmanuel Macron and his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame on Tuesday inaugurated a memorial in Paris to honour the victims of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsis in Rwanda. https://t.co/caQwEOvj0t

[Sky News @SkyNews]

"Mr Keir Starmer broke the promises he made."

Palestinian children Mahmoud, 12, and Obaida, 15, react to the UK government's pledge to evacuate 300 sick and injured children.

But only around 50 have been brought over so far - zero this year.

＠BarbaraGSerra | https://t.co/rB90Nphn29

[Dylan Byers @DylanByers]

#BREAK: CBS NEWS has terminated Scott Pelley's contract.

[Brian Stelter @brianstelter]

Former "60 Minutes" boss Bill Owens speaking at @NYPressClub while accepting its Truth to Power Award tonight: Scott Pelley "can smell a fraud from a mile away." Owens said "I couldn't be prouder of him, and I know all of the people at '60 Minutes' couldn't be prouder of him."

[Adam Klasfeld @KlasfeldReports]

Scott Pelley is the face of the highest-rated newsmagazine on TV, and every “60 Minutes” staffer in the room reportedly gave him a standing ovation after this exchange.

The idea that Bari Weiss can blithely fire him without also committing institutional arson is naive.

Pelley did this because he has integrity— but also because he has power.

[Brian Stelter @brianstelter]

Scott Pelley: "She is murdering 60 Minutes. She does not love this place. She was brought in to kill it, and she’s been doing exactly that."

[Pope Leo XIV @Pontifex]

In the era of #ArtificialIntelligence, when human dignity is threatened by new forms of dehumanization, ours is the pressing duty to remain profoundly human. We must lovingly safeguard the grandeur of humanity bestowed upon us and revealed in its fullness in Christ, the splendor of which no machine can ever replace. #MagnificaHumanitas
https://t.co/6i9MWs6LJl

[The Associated Press @AP]

BREAKING: Pope Leo XIV makes historic apology for Holy See's own role in legitimizing slavery and for failing to condemn it for centuries. https://t.co/cQz8oU5Wkh

[Vatican News @VaticanNews]

"It now falls to us to face the challenges of our time"
- Magnifica humanitas, 5

[Andy Burnham @AndyBurnhamGM]

Politics isn’t working for places like ours.

I will change that.

#AndyBurnham #ForUs

[Tom Fletcher @UNReliefChief]

New @theIPCinfo alerts underline famine risk across Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan.

Conflict, displacement, funding cuts and obstacles to our access are pushing millions deeper into hunger.

[Led By Donkeys @ByDonkeys]

Immigration makes Britain brilliant.