FCC Chair Brendan Carr slammed ousted 60 Minutes anchor Scott Pelley on social media Sunday after the journalist suggested his departure from the long-running program came as a shock.
Pelley, 68, who worked at CBS for nearly four decades, was fired last week after accusing editor-in-chief Baris Weiss of “murdering” the top news program during an explosive meeting.
In an interview with The New York Times published Sunday, Pelley said, “It hadn’t occurred to me” that he was going to be fired over the incident.
Replying to a tweet sharing the interview on X, Carr wrote: “One of the reasons why trust in media is so low is because many legacy journalists are completely out of touch.
“You could not get away with that behavior at any run of the mill job. It is revealing to see how blind some are to that.”
open image in gallery
open image in galleryWeiss, who founded the “anti-woke” media outlet The Free Press, was appointed as the network’s editor-in-chief last October after billionaire David Ellison, who has reported ties to President Donald Trump, took over CBS’s parent company, Paramount.
Pelley’s firing came after Weiss, who has no broadcast journalism experience, fired several other CBS News veterans, including executive producer Tanya Simon. She was replaced with tech journalist Nick Bilton, who also has no previous broadcast experience.
Pelley served as 60 Minutes’ managing editor and anchor, and had been a correspondent for 22 years. In total, he spent 37 years at CBS News. He was sent a termination letter by Bilton, who accused him of hijacking his first meeting with staff.
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In the June 1 meeting, Bilton had tried to reassure 60 Minutes staff that the program “is going to stay exactly like it is for now,” and that “Bari loves this institution,” according to The Times, which obtained an audio recording.
Pelley reportedly fired back: “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.
“She has no qualifications for her job; you have slender qualifications for this job,” he added.
In the new interview, Pelley doubled down on his criticism of Weiss and CBS’s new leadership, saying: “We need adult supervision and at the moment we don’t have it. They don’t know what they’re doing. And there’s a subtle political bias that I’ve never seen at 60 Minutes before, or at CBS News before.”
He added: “So that is my hope: a return to sanity. We can save this. It’s possible to land this plane. But right now, CBS News is on fire.”
CBS News did not return The Independent’s request for comment.
While FCC chairs are traditionally low-profile regulators focused on telecom policy, Carr has become an unusually visible political figure who frequently weighs in on disputes involving broadcasters, late-night hosts, and news organizations that have clashed with Trump.
Carr was appointed by the president to chair the FCC after first joining the commission during Trump’s first term.