Fired Scott Pelley accuses CBS of trying to ' curry favor' with Trump — 'Good people were silenced...'

Scott Pelley, the longtime 60 Minutes correspondent who was fired from CBS News, accused the network’s new executives of trying to ” curry favor” with the Donald Trump administration.

In a public statement, Pelley also claimed that he was instructed to “insert lies and bias” into his reporting.

In a lengthy statement on social media, Pelley wrote: “’60’ has been the number one show in America for decades because our beloved audience finds integrity, quality and humanity in our stories.

“As the program transitioned to my colleagues and me, it was our responsibility to expand vigorously into the new age of media technology while maintaining the values our audience expects,” he said. “The new owner of our network is now tossing that legend aside, apparently to curry favor with the Trump administration for a while.”

Pelley also criticized CBS’s new management, saying 60 Minutes “lost its DNA” last month “when our entire senior management and two of our best broadcast reporters were brutally fired for no reason.”

“Good people were silenced because they stood up for our audience. They stood up for justice against the forces of political bias; they stood up for professionalism against chaos,” he said.

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Pelley also said he was ordered by new management “to inject lies and bias into a politically sensitive story.” “I have been told to include claims that are unverified. To date, in every case I have managed to ignore or reject these instructions,” he said.

“Politicians were recently asked to pick correspondents for on-air interviews. Giving politicians control over 60 Minutes interviews is not how you do it,” the fired reporter said. “Finally, the incompetence and unprofessionalism in the new management caused havoc.”

Pelley claimed that in one of his stories, “the whole program came within 19 minutes of not even going on the air.”

He concluded his statement by saying he was leaving “after 37 years at CBS with one emotion — a heart overflowing with gratitude for the men and women of CBS News who have encouraged and enriched my work, very often at the risk of their own lives.”

“I pray for the day when these people and their ideals are revered again – the day when sanity, competence and courage return,” he said.

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Bari Weiss on Scott Pelley’s termination

“…I’m only interested in working in a newsroom that’s built on trust and mutual respect. Without that, we can’t do our job,” Bari Weiss said at the meeting, according to the Guardian.

“Those foundations were broken on Monday and despite our attempts to work with Scott Pelley and find a way back, unfortunately we were unable to do so and so we had to part ways,” she said of Scott Pelley’s termination.

Weiss said CBS doesn’t want that to happen, “but that’s the path he’s chosen.”

“This unfortunate outcome does not negate the amazing contributions and work Scott Pelley has done for CBS and 60 Minutes throughout his career,” she added, listing some of his stories from last season as “unforgettable stories.”

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Bari Weiss ‘Kills 60 Minutes’: Scott Pelley

Scott Pelley’s 22-year run on the show has come to an end after he was terminated on Tuesday after clashing with the network’s new management.

Last week, CBS News management fired 60 Minutes’ executive producer, executive editor and two chief correspondents without reason or explanation. Tensions boiled over during a high-stakes meeting Monday involving new executive editor Nick Bilton.

During the confrontation, Pelley launched a direct verbal attack against Bari Weiss, a former opinion columnist who led the network as editor-in-chief last October. He was fired the next day.

“He’s killing 60 Minutes,” Pelley said, the Guardian reported. “She doesn’t love this place. She was brought here to kill him, and that’s exactly what she’s doing.”

Pelley was informed of his termination the following day in a message from Bilton, who reportedly raised Pelley’s behavior at the meeting.

“Yesterday you hijacked my first staff meeting to disparage me, my qualifications and my intentions with remarkable discourtesy and contempt,” he wrote.