60 Minutes and the Collapse of Media Humility

A Media Dust-Up That Says More Than Intended

For many Americans, the most recent dust-up at CBS that focused on the departure of long-time 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley appears more similar to the tirade of a 14-year-old spoiled brat than anything resembling a defense of the honor of journalism. Since the arrival of Barri Weiss to oversee the news operation, the place has come to symbolize everything wrong with the current state of American journalism.

Barri Weiss and the New Media Order

Weiss, a former member of the New York Times editorial staff, had left the Grey Lady during the Summer of Love (2020) as Americans turned themselves inside out to rationalize the burning, looting, and violence supposedly done in the name of addressing systemic racism. This all during the midst of COVID. Weiss, a traditional liberal involved in a long-standing lesbian relationship, was no longer sufficiently progressive to satisfy the new order of woke-dominated journalism. Weiss was insufficiently sensitive to being anti-racist and supported Israel to boot. Suddenly, saying All Lives Matter turned into disrespecting the unique situation white liberals and Black radicals ascribed to all people of color.

The Trouble Inside 60 Minutes

60 Minutes had already undergone a fair amount of unrest. A variety of on-air talent, such as Anderson Cooper, exited along with a number of senior producers. All of this is happening in the name of “maintaining the independence and standards that define the program.” Another name for this might be insulated arrogance, coupled with believing your own crap.

Bias, Trust and the Legacy Media Problem

To even have to argue if 60 Minutes repeatedly demonstrated a strong and harsh progressive bias is to be made to debate whether the sun rises in the East. On the one hand, it was fine for Dan Rather to attempt to derail the Presidential campaign of George W. Bush by peddling a story so poorly investigated and researched it forced him to eventually leave the show. At the same time, during four years of Joe Biden giving every evidence of his brain being mush, there was no time to give the matter serious and fair coverage. That would hurt the progressive cause.

Rather than cite 25 instances of blatant bias, I would just argue that the progressive slant to 60 Minutes is but one more reason the media is so widely distrusted and disrespected. There is no longer any pretense of actual reporting. These self-righteous, self-important personalities are now in the “business of storytelling.” The fiction they attempt to sell as reality has reached its limits. Especially in this digital age, modern legacy corporate journalism is little more than one group of people telling another group of people what they want to hear. Pretending otherwise, or even debating the matter, is just silly.

A Bubble That Mistakes Criticism for Conquest

Maybe there is a market where journalism is actually practiced, one where every single bit of content is more than a xerox machine for every progressive viewpoint under the sun. However, the behavior of, and the reaction to it, by the chattering class provides scant evidence that we will find out anytime soon. Inside their bubble, anything other than the approach they have taken is nothing short of MAGA domination. Baloney.

Scott Pelley’s Public Performance

What did Scott Pelley actually do? After turning down the opportunity to privately meet with the new Executive Producer, Nick Bilton, Pelley took over Bilton’s first meeting of the 60 Minutes team to turn the gathering into the stage for an obviously planned performance, stating his outrage over earlier firings, disgust with the leadership of Weiss, and a promise to Bilton that he “would never be welcome.” It took about 35 seconds for a tape of the meeting to leak into the public discourse. This was followed by more performative behavior and ultimately Pelley being fired.

Most recently, Lesley Stahl and two of her colleagues said they would remain with the program so long as it maintained its editorial independence. They jointly expressed their support for their departed colleagues and shared the grief they were experiencing over the entire situation. Gag me with a spoon.

Who Do They Think They Are?

First of all, 60 Minutes is no longer the rating monster it had been in the past. Last year, they pulled 8.32 million viewers on average. A regular-season NFL football game drew just under 19 million. You are tempted to ask: Who the hell do these people think they are?

There are very few jobs where you are allowed to very publicly bite the hand that feeds you. Scott Pelley is just another progressive twit in the legacy “mainstream” media who has fallen by the wayside. It is most unfortunate for the rest of us that he and his pals in the progressive, elitist bubble think the rest of us give a rat’s rear end.

Remember This

Remember this: When members of the Fourth Estate behave as entitled aristocrats not subject to the sort of norms the rest of us face, they reveal their true character. What do you think?