Three 60 Minutes Correspondents Agree to Stay Under New Leadership
The three correspondents issued a memo after Scott Pelley’s firing and the departures of Sharyn Alfonsi, Cecilia Vega, Tanya Simon and Draggan Mihailovich. They said their decision does not endorse recent leadership changes.
nypost.comLesley Stahl, Bill Whitaker and Jon Wertheim said they will remain with 60 Minutes for now after weeks of staff changes at the program. The three correspondents issued the statement in a memo obtained by The New York Post. Scott Pelley was fired earlier this week.
Sharyn Alfonsi, Cecilia Vega, executive producer Tanya Simon, senior executive producer Draggan Mihailovich and several top producers also left the show. The correspondents wrote that they do not want to see 60 Minutes die. They added that they feared their decision to stay might be read as support for the current leadership, but stated that interpretation is categorically not the case.
The trio said they were deeply upset by the departures of Simon and Mihailovich. They wrote that the two producers were expelled because they fought for 60 Minutes values and stood up to protect independence and integrity. The correspondents said they were sorry that principled, fair and honest journalists were treated so shabbily, with such indecency.
They added that Simon and Mihailovich deserved to be celebrated, not cruelly cast off. Stahl, Whitaker and Wertheim described Alfonsi, Vega and Pelley as journalists at the top of the world of TV journalism. They stated that newsrooms are not supposed to be run like dictatorships.
The three said they are working to build trust with new executive producer Nick Bilton. They noted they had heard all the right things in his recent memo pledging editorial independence. Maria Gavrilovic was promoted to a veteran producer role.
The correspondents said they were encouraged by that move and by Bilton’s pledge. The memo set conditions for their continued presence. The correspondents wrote that if they can continue doing independent, fearless journalism and storytelling they are here for it, and if not they leave.
Nick Bilton pledged that 60 Minutes would remain editorially independent. The New York Times reported that Bilton had consulted with the three remaining correspondents about whether they would stay.
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