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| Scott Pelley - late of 60 Minutes (WSJ) |
Yesterday, the mainstream media reported that he was fired
from his job at the mega-popular TV news magazine, 60 Minutes.
What precipitated his departure was a heated confrontation
at a staff meeting with 60 Minutes’ newly installed executive
producer, Nick Bilton.
Apparently, Pelley came into that meeting with ‘both guns
blazing’! Upset about the departures of the show’s previous producer, Tanya
Simon, and two of its regular correspondents, Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega.
The issue at hand is the accusation that CBS’s new
management has tried to interfere with the journalistic integrity and freedom
of expression of its reporters by forcing them to insert “lies” into their
reports. Pelley argued that their stories should be left exactly as they
reported them in their supposedly pristine objectivity.
I had to laugh when I read those comments, which were made
by both Pelley and Vega. If I had to guess, I would say that Pelley was
parroting what Vega had claimed, reflecting her own bias. A bias that became
overtly obvious about a year ago in a 60 Minutes segment that
was so slanted against Israel that even a child would have noticed it.
This is
what I said about it at the time:
Vega interviewed some disgruntled State Department employees who had resigned over what they claimed was the U.S. government’s mishandling of the “atrocities” being committed by the Netanyahu government in its war with Hamas. The report made it seem as though these individuals possessed inside information and irrefutable evidence of Israeli atrocities, which they described in considerable detail.
None of this was verified by independent sources. And it was certainly far from established fact. Yet, as is often 60 Minutes’ habit, the report made it sound as though its version of events was the only truth. They had absolutely no problem ignoring Israel’s side of the story—which, in my view, was probably much closer to reality than what 60 Minutes was peddling.
This is what they consider balanced reporting.
What could be less balanced than that hit piece? This is the
kind of reporting that Vega doesn’t want any ‘lies’ inserted into. By ‘lies’
she means facts and perspectives that challenge her preconceived notion of the
truth.
To show that this wasn’t an isolated incident of anti-Israel
bias, there was the harsh rebuke by the then CBS new director of reporter Tony
Dokoupil who - during an interview - dared to challenge the author of an
anti-Israel book by asking why he reported only the Palestinian perspective
while ignoring the Israeli one. That rebuke generated honest pushback from some
of CBS’s own correspondents—an unusual event given the sensitivity surrounding
job security in network news.
At about that same time, a politically conservative,
pro-Israel news executive, Bari Weiss, was brought in to help reshape the news
division. She has since elevated Dokoupil to the nightly news anchor and has
been involved in broader efforts to overhaul the network’s news operation and
change its leftward tilt.
I never thought I would see the day when 60 Minutes would
face serious internal challenges to its leftist editorial culture and attempt
to become a more politically balanced news magazine.
I, for one, am more than happy to see Vega go. I don’t know
much about Alfonsi’s views, but I can guess based on criticism she received
over one of her own anti-Trump segments.
I wish I could say, ‘Problem solved’. All will be well, and
future broadcasts will be more balanced - if not more favorable to Israel.
Sadly, that will very likely not be the case…
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