Bari-O-Meter, Pegged: Scott Pelley Has a Major 'Hold My Beer, Alfonsi' Momenthttps://hotair.com/tree-hugging-sister/2026/06/02/bari-o-meter-pegged-scott-pelley-has-a-major-hold-my-beer-alfonsi-moment-n3815507As with some of the comments I've read from you all, the changes in the Evening News started slow and subtle - new anchor Tony Dokoupil did have to find his footing, no doubt, and the tremendous resistance from entrenched staff didn't help - but the broadcast has changed and so much for the better.
Yeah, they will always have a lefty tilt to their rigging, but if you go by the rage foam-flecked spittle spewed in these comments on their piece about Platner last night, you know the progressive base no longer sees them as a reliable ally and propaganda mouthpiece.
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Of course, the crown jewel of the network has always been 60 Minutes and, to borrow a phrase from my friend Cynical Publius, the perfumed princes who inhabited the kingdom and breathed the rarified air there felt they were a realm unto themselves. Understandably so, having been a sacrosanct property for so long.
When the announcement of Weiss's hiring was made, the royalty of the broadcast sent not-so-subtle warning signals to their minions in print media that Weiss was to consider them as off-limits for her pedestrian touch.
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Weiss wasn't in the least bit impressed by the palace intrigue. She marched into a meeting with the haughty doyens of the venerated program and threw a simple curveball by asking one question:
WHY DOES THE COUNTRY THINK YOU'RE BIASED?
Stunned silence met the new boss.
60 Minutes staff were clueless.
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The news division felt it first, and some at 60 Minutes took that as a signal that their 'hands off' messaging had been received, digested, and accepted.
They couldn't have been more wrong.
Correspondent Sharon Alfonsi found that out when her sleight-of-hand piece on the CECOT prison in El Salvador was spiked by Weiss, for what turns out to have been purposeful malfeasance on Alfonsi's part.
In a towering fit of rage, Afonsi fired off a grievance note that CC'd everyone in the news division, and, while she wasn't fired right off the bat, her employment at 60 Minutes was spiked all the same, as they chose not to renew Afonsi's contract, which expired last week.
60 Minutes executive producer Tanya Simon and correspondent Cecilia Vega were released at the same time.
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CBS News editor in chief Bari Weiss shook up the TV-news industry’s most-watched and best-regarded property Thursday, ousting the program’s two most senior executive producers, Tanya Simon and Draggan Mihailoivich, along with correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega, according to two people familiar with the matter.
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As one who feels entitled to emote, I guess by virtue of his station in life every Sunday, Scott Pelley indulged himself in a massive tantrum during the first 'meet-the-boss' get-together.
In a Monday-morning meeting, veteran “60 Minutes” correspondent Scott Pelley ripped into his new boss, Nick Bilton.
“What qualifies you to be in this position?” Pelley demanded.
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“She’s murdering ’60 Minutes,’” Pelley said of Weiss. “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.”
He continued by interrogating Bilton: “You have slender qualifications for this job. The changes that she’s made at the ‘Evening News’ have been catastrophic. So why should we expect that any of this is going to be any better?”
IRL, Weiss worked for TWSJ for several years, for the NYT for several years, and founded and managed her own news/commentary outlet. Pelley's snobbery is partisan, not based in fact.
Similarly, Nick Bilton had worked for the NYT and Vanity Fair, each for several years, and has done screenwriting and been a producer for several Hollywood films. Again, Pelley's snobbery is partisan, not based in fact.
