What began as an introductory meeting for 60 Minutes’ new executive producer quickly turned into a public showdown. Veteran correspondent Scott Pelley took aim at BREAKING NEWS chief Bari Weiss, criticizing her leadership and the direction of the long-running show.
What is Scott Pelley’s net worth
Pelley has spent decades building one of the most respected careers in American broadcast journalism. According to Celebrity Net Worth, he has a net worth of $18 million.
Born in San Antonio, Texas in 1957, Pelley got his start in journalism at just 15 years old as a copyboy for the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. He joined BREAKING NEWS in 1989 and went on to cover some of the biggest stories of the last three decades, from the Gulf War to the impeachment of Bill Clinton to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He became a 60 Minutes correspondent in 2003 and later anchored the CBS Evening News from 2011 to 2017, gaining over 820,000 new daily viewers in his first nine months in that role. His teams have won 25 national Emmy Awards, a Peabody, and Alfred I duPont- Columbia University Awards.
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What is Bari Weiss’s net worth
Weiss has taken a very different path and a far more lucrative one. According to Celebrity Net Worth, she has a net worth of $50 million.
Born in Pittsburgh in 1984, Weiss built her early career as an opinion writer at the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times. Her high-profile resignation from the Times in 2020 made national headlines and she quickly turned the controversy into an independent media empire.
In 2021 she launched a newsletter called Common Sense, which eventually grew into The Free Press, one of the most visible independent media outlets in the United States. In 2025, Paramount Skydance acquired The Free Press for $150 million and named Weiss editor-in-chief of BREAKING NEWS.
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What just happened between Pelley and Weiss?
When new 60 Minutes executive producer Nick Bilton attended his first staff meeting on Monday, veteran correspondent Scott Pelley immediately challenged him. According to the AP, Pelley accused BREAKING NEWS chief Bari Weiss of “murdering” 60 Minutes and told Bilton his qualifications for the job were “slender.”
When Bilton said, “Bari loves this institution” and “she loves ‘60 Minutes,’” Pelley responded: “She’s murdering ’60 Minutes.’ She does not love this place. She was brought in to kill it and she’s doing exactly that.”
According to The New York Times, Pelley’s voice was shaking during the tense exchange. Weiss was not present at the meeting, and an executive told the newspaper that she had been “prepared to come, but we asked her not to.”