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
The historic Alfred Street Baptist Church announced it would fund the Black student government whose funding was cut at Mizzou over DEI restrictions
“We take care of our own people,” said Rev. Dr. Howard-John Wesley.
https://t.co/7iBBZpK63G
Former Georgia House Minority Leader @staceyabrams testifies against Tennessee's new Congressional map, which would eliminate the only Democrat-held seat in the state.
"It is a deeply disturbing truth that Memphis, the place where Dr. King gave his life, is being told that your voices are so irrelevant that we will deny you even one voice in Congress, that one voice out of nine is too much for you. That is a very clear signal and it is, I believe, an act of cowardice to deny them that voice."
Home, again! Mission complete. I hope we glorified God, humanity, our families and our terrific teams a @NASA and @csa_asc. Time to share the good news!
As we close out the month of March and Women’s History Month, I’m still celebrating the International Women’s Day program with the Frederick Asian American Center that included Joy Moore (mother of Governor Wes Moore), Joie Chen, and the celebration of immigrant mothers.
MUST WATCH: Today, Tennessee House Republican Representative Michele Reneau stated the following on a House education bill: “The Bible actually does instruct those who do own slaves on how to treat them.”
She is then, justifiably, TORCHED by Justin Pearson.
Stop using and weaponizing the Bible to justify committing atrocities, white people (and those adjacent)!! 🤬
Pouring one out for The Reverend Jesse Jackson. A giant and a champion for civil rights and equality.
But can anyone read Green Eggs and Ham better? No.
I respectfully disagree.
It was Bad Bunny’s appointed time.
He uplifted his community in perilous times.
He was courageous.A great show. A wise man would tip his hat and keep it moving.