CBS News insiders are speculating that “60 Minutes” correspondent Bill Whitaker and Lesley Stahl are the next to exit the storied broadcast following fired journalist Scott Pelley out the door, The Post has learned.
A source close to the situation said that Whitaker could make his move as soon as Wednesday.
“I think Bill is next,” said a source close to the network. “Lesley is keeping quiet, but I wouldn’t be surprised if she left.”
CBS News, Whitaker and Stahl did not return requests for comment.
The correspondents — whom CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss has privately referred to as “the legends,” along with Pelley — are said to be weighing their futures after Pelley was fired for cause on Tuesday night.
“Lesley and Bill will be behind him,” said another CBS insider, who noted that Pelley’s exit has put immense pressure on the veteran correspondents to follow suit.
Stahl, 84, and Whitaker, 74, are two of the oldest members of the show and have long been rumored to be mulling their retirements.
Now, the abrupt exit of Pelley and last week’s bloodbath, which claimed correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi, Cecilia Vega as well as former “60 Minutes” boss Tanya Simon and top producers Draggan Mihailovich, Guy Campanile and Matthew Polevoy, has raised fresh speculation.
A second CBS insider said CBS News top brass are allowing Stahl and Whitaker to leave on their own terms, noting that with all the recent departures, the network has saved enough money to bring in fresh blood to reinvigorate the show.
Another source pointed to a tick-tock by Status of Pelley’s last 24-hours at the company, in which the correspondent “huddled” with Whitaker on Tuesday afternoon to talk over the fast unfolding situation.
The item caused speculation that Whitaker was aligned with Pelley, who had been prepping a resignation letter, to follow him out the door.
Pelley’s fate would soon be sealed after the award-winning correspondent lambasted Simon’s handpicked replacement, Nick Bilton, at a “60 Minutes” meet-and-greet with the new leader.
Pelley cited Bilton’s “slender” qualifications for the job and said the new boss “will never be welcome here.”
Pelley also slammed Weiss’ own lack of qualifications for her role, claiming she was “brought in to kill” the newsmagazine show and “is doing exactly that.”
The fallout from that Monday meet-and-greet-turned interrogation sparked a chain of events that lead to Pelley being summoned by Weiss, Bilton and CBS News President Tom Cibrowski at 5 pm ET on Tuesday.
According to CBS News, top brass was unable to find a way forward with Pelley. Meanwhile, Pelley claimed in a statement that there was never an attempt to find a “way back,” noting that he was “effectively fired” during the meeting.
Around 9:30 pm on Tuesday night, CBS News circulated Bilton’s letter to staff, announcing that Pelley had been fired for cause.
In a letter obtained by The Post, newly appointed “60 Minutes” executive producer Nick Bilton blasted Pelley in informing him he was fired “for cause effective immediately.”
“[Y]ou hijacked my first meeting with staff to disparage me, my qualifications, and my intentions with remarkable incivility and contempt,” Bilton wrote, referring to Monday’s heated face-off between the journo and his boss.
Bilton further accused Pelley of staging a “performative display of hostility” and claimed he had “no interest in contributing to the future success of the show, or approaching my new tenure with a mind open to collaboration and progress.”
“I am here to deliver first-in-class news programming, not to make headlines about newsroom drama,” Bilton wrote, before saying Pelley had been fired by CBS News for cause.
Credit: Source link
