CBS News Engaging in “Editorial Interference,” Says Union

The president of the Writers Guild of America East is decrying the management of CBS News under new owner Paramount Skydance, claiming “near-constant levels of editorial interference” at the storied organization.

Tom Fontana, the showrunner and writer leading the union, wrote members on Thursday after CBS News fired former 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley following a clash with leadership in a tense meeting earlier this week. “Like many of you, I have been alarmed by recent developments at CBS News,” he wrote, citing recent layoffs and the closing of CBS News Radio in late May.

“In addition, based on a string of public reporting and confidential reports from WGAE members, it is clear that CBS brass is engaged in a near-constant level of editorial interference that would have previously been unthinkable,” Fontana said.

Of Pelley, an icon of the newsmagazine and a 37-year veteran of the network, the union said, “CBS management is apparently too thin-skinned to handle the honest scrutiny of their own journalists.”

Pelley was fired by CBS management after he laid into new 60 Minutes boss Nick Bilton and CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss in a heated staff meeting. The journalist said Weiss was “murdering” the show. “She does not love this place, she was brought in to kill it and is doing exactly that,” he said. Pelley also told Bilton he had “slender” qualifications for the executive producer role he now holds.

The meeting followed a transformation of 60 Minutes under Weiss’ leadership, with executive producer Tanya Simon and correspondents Cecilia Vega and Sharyn Alfonsi all being fired in May.

In his message, Fontana said the moves represented more than “ideological interference” in stories. He said, “They display a profound contempt for the journalism profession, for our members who have dedicated their lives to informing the public about the world, and for the ethics that underpin true journalism, chief among them honesty, integrity, and objectivity.”

The union leader concluded his message by telling CBS News workers that they are “not alone” and that “we will be there with you when this difficult time in American life passes, and we will help you build what comes next.”

Read the full memo below.

My fellow members,

Like many of you, I have been alarmed by recent developments at CBS News. In the past year, CBS has enacted cruel and needless layoffs across the organization and shuttered CBS News Radio. In addition, based on a string of public reporting and confidential reports from WGAE members, it is clear that CBS brass is engaged in a near-constant level of editorial interference that would have previously been unthinkable.

Over the course of the last few weeks, CBS has laid off or fired multiple newsroom workers and journalists, most recently Scott Pelley; CBS management is apparently too thin-skinned to handle the honest scrutiny of their own journalists.

These assaults on CBS News, an institution of American journalism for nearly a century, are more than mere ideological interference with the news. They display a profound contempt for the journalism profession, for our members who have dedicated their lives to informing the public about the world, and for the ethics that underpin true journalism, chief among them honesty, integrity, and objectivity.

To our friends and colleagues at CBS News: we see you, and you are not alone. Thousands of your union brothers, sisters, and siblings have your backs. We stand shoulder to shoulder with you now, we will be there with you when this difficult time in American life passes, and we will help you build what comes next.

In solidarity,

Tom Fontana
President
Writers Guild of America East