Tony Dokoupil honors Scott Pelley after ’60 Minutes’ shooting
CBS Evening News host Tony Dokoupil paid tribute to Scott Pelley after the former 60 Minutes correspondent was fired Tuesday following an explosive dispute with the show’s new executive producer, Nick Bilton.
“When I started at CBS, Scott Pelley was sitting in this chair and he was still doing a dozen stories a year for ’60 Minutes,’” Dokoupil said during Wednesday night’s broadcast. “And in the midst of all that, I still met with every new correspondent to share their perspective on the mission here,” Dokoupil said. “He believed in freedom of the press, to quote [James] Madison was “the right that guaranteed all others.” And the stakes are always so high: If you made CBS News, you were among the best in the world. He worked every day to meet that standard.”
During a video compilation of Pelley’s career highlights, Dokoupil added: “He was in some ways a man from a different era, and that’s not a knock. He didn’t watch the game, he said, because he knew who he was. A journalist who valued the truth at all costs.”
Pelley was fired from “60 Minutes” after he lashed out at Bilton during a staff meeting Monday, telling the former NYT technology columnist that he had “slight qualifications” to be in charge of the historic news program. Bilton was put in charge by CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss, who accused Pelley of “murdering ’60 Minutes'” at the same meeting.
Bilton was announced as the new “60 Minutes” boss after a surprise move by Weiss, firing longtime executive producer Tanya Simon and correspondents Cecilia Vega and Sharyn Alfonsi. Dokoupil’s comments are notable considering Weiss was the one who gave him the role of “Evening News.”
Dokoupil isn’t the only CBS journalist commenting on this unprecedented time at the network. “60 Minutes” legend Steve Kroft told PBS NewsHour that the show’s direction under Weiss was “disastrous.”
“This is journalistic interference,” Kroft said. “It doesn’t make any business sense. It’s the highest-rated news program on television, and has been that way for more than 50 years. Last year, viewership was up about 9%. Why mess with that?”
