21 jun. 2026 3 min leestijd

English: 60 minutes to midnight

If you're concerned about press freedom—and there are many reasons, such as it hitting a 25 year low—do read this interview with Scott Pelley, the recently fired host of the iconic American news program 60 Minutes. After 37 years of service, just let go like it's nothing. He can't believe what is happening.

Let's start with a brief summary, people like me that aren't American might know the show by name, but not fully grasp its context. 60 Minutes is a program on CBS, one of the oldest and most watched networks in America. Since 2025, CBS is by David Ellison, the son of Larry Ellison, founder of software company Oracle. Ellison sr. is said to have supported helped the acquisition; allegedly, he put up a $6 billion collateral.

For the sale, the Ellisons also needed approval from the FCC, which they only received after a long back-and-forth. The creators of South Park, who themselves struck a mega-deal with Ellison, had a cartoon version of the FCC chairman state from a hospital bed—with his arm raised at an oddly specific angle in a cast—that he was so sick he might lose his "free speech." Who could have predicted that the adolescent toilet humor of the 2000s would become sharp political satire in 2025?

Anyway, when Ellison came to power, he immediately began interfering with their journalism. Specifically, he appointed Bari Weiss as the executive producer of 60 Minutes. Bari Weiss isn't exactly a household name.

She briefly worked as a staff writer at The New York Times but left with a lot of kerfuffle, and then launched her own highly successful Substack newsletter, The Free Press. On her Substach—freed of boring ass things such as fact checking and
Audi alteram partem---she could really unleash her anti-woke rhetoric. If you really want to dive in you could check out this profile of her in, of all places, New York Times. Or, if you are, like me, an If books could kill premium member, do check out their episode on her

Somehow after only this experience, Weiss, with no experience in television production whatsoever, was made the head of America's largest news network. And what stands out from the interview—and why it's relevant to understand—is that Pelley truly doesn't realize what he is going through is a hostile takeover.

He expresses surprise at Weiss's incompetence: doesn't she understand that a TV broadcast has to be finished on time? You don't miss deadlines! He thinks, against all evidence, that he and Weiss want the same thing, to make a good show, while her goal is to just let it rip. Maybe she's incompetent too—it's possible—but what's more relevant is that she obviously hates legacy media. Hating on them has been her brand, and since Trump II, that's gold.

He doesn't understand Weiss's world, sighing:

"I shoot TikTok verticals [...] on every assignment. We're there. We're everywhere."

Mommy, look at me! We are embracing the new world, why does Bari keep calling us old-fashioned? It is sad to read he does not understand the video's are not the point, the content is not the point, he can't pivot his way out of the hate Weiss has for him and his whole network.

Pelley complaints about Weiss's lack of respect: employees who'd worked there for 30 years, war correspondents who risked their lives for freedom of speech, fired on the spot, no farewell party, get out by 5 pm. Unfortunately, Pelley doesn't realize that's this is not a side point, this is that it is all about. The disrespect is the message. In the old world of journalism (or politics, or academia), people has some skin in the game. "There is no democracy without journalism", says Pelley, in tears. You respected the profession, your colleagues, the institution you built together. And that way, by handing out the respect, you also earned respect—from your team, and from the public.

Weiss lives in a world of quantification and engagement, and according to all sorts of metrics, she's bigger, more, and better than 60 Minutes. So how is it that those hard numbers don't automatically translate into respect on the same level? How is it that that old-fashioned TV still attracts viewers at all?

What stings Weiss is that you can't growth hack respect—you can only earn it through years, even decades, of good work. And that makes people like Bari Weiss angry, there is something that their grifting will never ever be able to buy, so it must be destroyed.