CBS News staffers are sending a letter to Trump-aligned boss David Ellison to demand he uphold journalistic values, Breaker Media’s Lachlan Cartwright said on MS NOW Sunday.
The letter was scheduled to go out on Monday following a massive shakeup at “60 Minutes” and festering questions about the future of the venerable news program.
Ellison, the CEO of CBS’ overlord Paramount Skydance, has put the apparent Trumpification of the Tiffany network in the hands of CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss.
“As I was just coming on air tonight, guys, I was made aware from sources of a letter that has been put together that will go out tomorrow to David Ellison from CBS News staffers,” Cartwright said. “And just quoting from that, they are asking David Ellison to ‘respect editorial values and independent journalism.’ … There was a letter meant to go out last year. They decided at that point not to do it. But this letter is going to go out tomorrow to David Ellison from the staffers — because people I speak to within CBS are absolutely distraught about what is going on here.”
Anderson Cooper made a veiled plea for “60 Minutes” to maintain its integrity and independence in a farewell message during an online “60 Minutes Overtime” episode. That he was able to get the message out reportedly infuriated Weiss because she did not get a heads-up. (Cooper may become an employee of Ellison again when Paramount/Skydance completes its purchase of CNN’s parent company.)
“60 Minutes” producer Tanya Simon, who reportedly ticked off Weiss for allowing Cooper’s speech, was dismissed, along with correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega recently.
Alfonsi spoke out against higher-ups when her segment on a notorious prison that housed Trump administration deportees was pulled (but later aired).
Cartwright noted the ratings for “60 Minutes” are up. “If it ain’t broke, why are they fixing it?” he asked.
He brought up a chat he had with “60 Minutes” alum Steve Kroft, who tied the revamp to Ellison bowing to Trump.
“[Kroft] said to me, ‘While there’s no smoking gun. Trump’s DNA is all over this,’” Cartwright said. “And look, we do know — and this is from my reporting — I first broke the secret dinner that David Ellison was having for Trump to honor Trump and the Trump White House before the White House Correspondents’ [Dinner], in light of the other deal that’s meant to go through for Warner Brothers Discovery. What else do we know? We know that Donald Trump has always raged against ‘60 Minutes.’ He sued the show for $10 billion, which resulted in that settlement. And so you start having to sort of put these pieces of the puzzle together and really ask, ‘Why does this show need these very serious changes at this moment?’”
HuffPost reached out to CBS News for comment.
