{"id":21317,"date":"2026-06-03T07:21:29","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T07:21:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/nick-biltons-scathing-letter-to-scott-pelley-while-firing-him-you-hijacked-my-first-meeting-to-disparage-me\/"},"modified":"2026-06-03T07:21:29","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T07:21:29","slug":"nick-biltons-scathing-letter-to-scott-pelley-while-firing-him-you-hijacked-my-first-meeting-to-disparage-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/nick-biltons-scathing-letter-to-scott-pelley-while-firing-him-you-hijacked-my-first-meeting-to-disparage-me\/","title":{"rendered":"Nick Bilton&#8217;s scathing letter to Scott Pelley while firing him, \u2018You hijacked my first meeting to disparage me\u2026\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div class=\"storyParagraphFigure\" readability=\"36.857142857143\">\n<p class=\"content\"><span>Nick Bilton, a 49-year-old tech journalist who was named the new boss of &lsquo;60 Minutes&rsquo; in a major reshuffle, wrote a scathing letter to correspondent <\/span><span>Scott Pelley<\/span><span> as CBS News fired him, saying Pelley&rsquo;s &ldquo;antipathy to the future of the show has come through loud and clear. And I have heard you.&rdquo;<\/span><\/p>\n<figure class=\"artImage leadImage\">\n<div class=\" \"><picture class=\"leadImageClass\"><source media=\"(min-width:768px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hindustantimes.com\/ht-img\/img\/2026\/06\/03\/550x309\/ujiolmnwwe_1780468277565_1780468282446_9d2a8113-053e-4b37-bc28-fed37bc45a9c.jpg\" alt=\"Nick Bilton's scathing letter to Scott Pelley while firing him (@nickbilton\/X, CBS News\/YouTube)\"><\/source><\/picture><\/div><figcaption class>Nick Bilton&rsquo;s scathing letter to Scott Pelley while firing him (@nickbilton\/X, CBS News\/YouTube)<span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"content \"><span>Therefore, he wrote, &ldquo;your employment with <\/span><span>CBS<\/span><span> is terminated for cause effective immediately.&rdquo;<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"content \" readability=\"37\">\n<h2><strong>What Nick Bilton told Scott Pelley<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span>The letter referenced Pelley&rsquo;s decision to question and criticize Bilton in a staff-wide meeting on Monday morning, June 1. Pelley&rsquo;s scathing comments leaked to news outlets outside, triggering a crisis inside CBS, CNN reported.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"content \"><span>Justifying Pelley&rsquo;s termination, Bilton wrote to Pelley, &ldquo;You hijacked my first meeting with staff to disparage me, my qualifications, and my intentions with remarkable incivility and contempt.&rdquo;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"content \"><span>Bilton went on to call it a &ldquo;performative display of hostility enacted in front of the staff&rdquo; that &ldquo;demonstrated that you have no interest in contributing to the future success of the show, or approaching my new tenure with a mind open to collaboration and progress.&rdquo;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"content \"><span>&ldquo;Despite yesterday&rsquo;s misconduct,&rdquo; Bilton continued, &ldquo;I had hoped that in sitting down with you today we could find a path forward together. You made clear that you are not interested in such a path.&rdquo;<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"internal-linking-related-contents\"><a href=\"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/12-weeks-jail-for-school-it-support-technician-who-took-upskirt-videos-of-teachers\/\" class=\"template-1\"><span class=\"cta\">News :<\/span><span class=\"postTitle\">&lt;div&gt;12 weeks' jail for school IT support technician who took upskirt videos of teachers&lt;\/div&gt;<\/span><\/a><\/div><p class=\"content \"><span>On Tuesday evening, Bilton wrote to &lsquo;60 Minutes&rsquo; staffers about Pelley&rsquo;s exit, &ldquo;I know how much Scott meant to many of you, and I don&rsquo;t say this lightly. I made repeated attempts to have direct conversations with him over the weekend, and this afternoon I tried to find common ground. That was not the path Scott chose.&rdquo;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"content \"><strong>Read More |<\/strong><span> <\/span><span>Scott Pelley fired: CBS terminates 60 Minutes correspondent after clash with management &ndash; 5 things to know<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"content \"><span>Bilton then tried to turn the staff&rsquo;s attention back to 60 Minutes&rsquo; future, saying, &ldquo;I realize this is a great deal of change in a very short time, and I wouldn&rsquo;t pretend otherwise.&rdquo;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"content \"><span>&ldquo;I won&rsquo;t relitigate the last week with you here,&rdquo; Bilton wrote. &ldquo;What I will commit to is this: My unyielding support for each of you, the journalism that you do and what we will do together going forward.&rdquo;<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"content \" readability=\"39.191919191919\">\n<h2><strong>What did Scott Pelley do before being fired?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span>In a meeting on Monday, Pelley accused editor in chief <\/span><span>Bari Weiss<\/span><span> of trying to &ldquo;kill&rdquo; the newsmagazine and objected to her hiring of Bilton, a former tech reporter with little TV news experience, to run the program. He had reportedly refused to meet with Bilton and Weiss privately to discuss last Thursday&rsquo;s shake-up at &lsquo;60 Minutes,&rsquo; which included the firings of top producers and two correspondents. On the same day, Bilton was appointed.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"content \"><span>Pelley at Monday&rsquo;s staff meeting depicted Weiss and Bilton as unqualified for their jobs. He even said that Bilton would &ldquo;never be welcome here,&rdquo; per CNN.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"internal-linking-related-contents\"><a href=\"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/migrant-acquitted-in-first-trial-over-us-border-military-zones\/\" class=\"template-1\"><span class=\"cta\">News :<\/span><span class=\"postTitle\">Migrant acquitted in first trial over US border military zones<\/span><\/a><\/div><p class=\"content \"><strong>Read More | <\/strong><span>Scott Pelley blasts new CBS management in lengthy exit note, &lsquo;Instructed me to inject falsehoods and bias&hellip;&rsquo;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"content \"><span>&ldquo;She has no qualifications for her job,&rdquo; Pelley said of Weiss, according to the source, the New York Post reported. &ldquo;The changes that she&rsquo;s made at the &lsquo;Evening News&rsquo; have been catastrophic, so why should we expect that any of this is going to be any better?&rdquo;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"content \"><span>The meeting ended without any clear resolution about the way forward. Sources told the New York Post that Bilton abruptly ended the meeting after a heated exchange with  Pelley.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"content \"><span>Pelley said in a statement after being fired that &lsquo;60 Minutes&rsquo; &ldquo;lost its DNA&rdquo; due to last week&rsquo;s firings.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"content \"><span>&ldquo;Good people were silenced because they stood up for our audience,&rdquo; Pelley wrote. &ldquo;They stood for fairness against the forces of political bias; they stood for professionalism against chaos.&rdquo;<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><sub><\/sub><\/p>\n<div>Nick Bilton&rsquo;s scathing letter to Scott Pelley while firing him, &lsquo;You hijacked my first meeting to disparage me&hellip;&rsquo;<\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nick Bilton, a 49-year-old tech journalist who was named the new boss of &lsquo;60 Minutes&rsquo; in a major reshuffle, wrote a scathing letter to correspondent Scott Pelley as CBS News fired him, saying Pelley&rsquo;s &ldquo;antipathy to the future of the show has come through loud and clear. And I have heard you.&rdquo; Nick Bilton&rsquo;s scathing&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"more-link-wrap\"><a href=\"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/nick-biltons-scathing-letter-to-scott-pelley-while-firing-him-you-hijacked-my-first-meeting-to-disparage-me\/\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &ldquo;Nick Bilton&#8217;s scathing letter to Scott Pelley while firing him, \u2018You hijacked my first meeting to disparage me\u2026\u2019&rdquo;<\/span> &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21318,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21317"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21317\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}