Scott Pelley fired for cause after criticizing CBS editor Bari Weiss
Guy Campanile, who spent 34 years at CBS News before his May firing as 60 Minutes managing editor, broke his silence Tuesday in a private Facebook post obtained by The Guardian, saying he and his ousted colleagues “refused to be accomplices in the destruction of the most prestigious news program on American television.”
The post is Campanile’s first detailed public account of the dismissals.
In the post, Campanile said he had initially held off on commenting, deciding it was “wise to remain quiet when emotions are raw.” “After some time and deep reflection, I am now comfortable and prepared to talk about it,” he wrote.
Campanile named the seven ousted staffers — himself, Tanya Simon, Draggan Mihailovich, Matthew Polevoy, Scott Pelley, Sharyn Alfonsi, and Cecilia Vega — and said they “would not compromise our principles or reputations by jamming unverifiable notions or White House talking points into our reporting.”
He added that the group “objected when told to conduct interviews arranged by the administration” and “insisted on asking the most challenging questions to business and political leaders without fear or favor.”
“We did what reporters worth their salt do — we questioned authority … including our own bosses,” Campanile wrote. “That’s how the best newsrooms work.”
Campanile said he and his colleagues “were told to leave because we insisted on doing our jobs” and that “editorial independence has become a casualty of corporate priorities and ideological intrusion.” What had happened at 60 Minutes, he wrote, was part of “an inevitable progression in the cascade of afflictions that have devalued our most trusted sources of news.”
Separately, CBS News also fired longtime journalist Pelley for “cause,” the network said, with the dismissal tied to his behavior in a meeting with the show’s executive producer and the network’s managing editor.
In that meeting, Pelley criticized Weiss, saying: “She’s murdering 60 Minutes. She does not love this place. She was brought in to kill it and is doing exactly that.”
Weiss’s appointment as editor-in-chief has drawn backlash from network staffers concerned about her impartiality, the Guardian reported.
Campanile used the post to address broader trends in journalism. “Information has become commoditized in the attention economy,” he wrote, and “facts are increasingly treated as items in a buffet, chosen depending on specific appetite and ideological tastes.” He criticized “the cadre of self-described influencers and online opinionists who market themselves as ‘journalists’” who, he said, have “been given control of our most precious reporting institutions — including CBS News.”
Campanile said he spent two-thirds of his life at CBS and left the offices on 57th Street “with my head held high and integrity intact.” He quoted Thomas Jefferson: “Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.”
“To my friends that remain at my former employer: hold the line. Don’t give an inch because they will keep scraping away until there’s nothing left worth a damn,” he wrote.
The Guardian said it contacted CBS for comment. No response was reported.