What To Know
- Nine press freedom groups warned that CNN could face similar upheaval as CBS’ 60 Minutes following recent firings and leadership changes.
- The groups criticized the replacement of key 60 Minutes staff, calling these actions an attack on investigative journalism.
- They argued that the pending Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger poses an existential threat to press freedom.
Nine press freedom advocacy groups came together on Tuesday (June 2) to warn that CNN will be next to suffer upheaval following the recent firings and leadership changes at CBS News’ 60 Minutes.
In a letter sent to TheWrap, the groups wrote that the “firings at CBS’ 60 Minutes are a grotesque effort taken straight from an authoritarian handbook to appease a sitting president and dismantle one of the loudest voices in investigative journalism. This is only the beginning.”
Last week, CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss announced that the show’s executive producer, Tanya Simon, would be replaced by tech journalist and filmmaker Nick Bilton. In addition, exec producer Draggan Mihailovich and correspondents Cecilia Vega and Sharyn Alfonsi were fired.
Veteran 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley spoke out against the changes and Weiss’ handling of CBS News during a heated staff meeting on Monday (June 1), during which he said Weiss was “murdering” 60 Minutes and told Bilton he had “slender qualifications” for the job.
On Tuesday, Bilton sent a termination letter to Pelley, noting that he’d been fired “for cause, effective immediately.” In the letter, he accused the longtime reporter of “ambush” and “hijacking” a staff meeting to “disparage” him.
Press freedom advocacy groups warned that things will only get worse amid Paramount’s pending merger with Warner Bros. Discovery. As part of the deal, Paramount will take ownership of the WBD studios, HBO, HBO Max, and the linear networks, including CNN. Last year, David Ellison and his father, Larry Ellison (a steadfast Trump supporter), merged their company, Skydance Media, with Paramount.
“Bari Weiss’ shameless actions fulfill the Ellisons’ commitment to President Trump to remake CBS to his liking,” the letter continued. “Larry Ellison has reportedly promised to do the same at CNN if allowed to take control through the pending Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger. Not because it makes any business sense, but because they seek to control the public discourse.”
The letter called the upcoming merger an “existential threat to the free press, independent media, and free speech in this country and beyond,” arguing that it “should not be allowed to move forward.”
“We cannot let this blow to the bedrock of our democracy be lost in the constant barrage of scandal, corruption, and abuse of power,” it added. “We have to make the story heard. It’s what 60 Minutes would have done; it’s what the Fourth Estate is tasked with doing; it’s what Trump and the Ellisons want to prevent. Don’t let them.”
The letter was signed by the Coalition for Women In Journalism, Committee for the First Amendment, Common Cause, Democracy Defenders Fund, International Documentary Association, Freedom of the Press Foundation, Free Press, National Press Photographers Association, and Reporters Without Borders.