Lesley Stahl And Other Top Talent Vow to Stay On to Keep 60 Minutes From Dying

Screenshot via CBS

60 Minutes correspondents Lesley Stahl, Bill Whitaker and Jon Wertheim say they will stay on at the legendary news magazine show to keep it from dying.

NPR media reporter David Folkenflik reported Friday, “In joint memo, Lesley Stahl, Bill Whitaker and Jon Wertheim say they will stay on at 60 Minutes. While they say they are heartbroken over fired colleagues, they cite one reason for staying: ‘We don’t want to see 60 Minutes die’.”

Folkenflik went on to post the entire memo that expressed the correspondents’ “hard time in deciding whether to stay on at 60 Minutes.”

Earlier this week, longtime correspondent Scott Pelley became the latest 60 Minutes stalwart to exit, as he was fired. His departure happened after CBS News editor in chief Bari Weiss appointed tech reporter Nick Bilton as the show’s new executive producer.

Bilton sent out a staff email Thursday where he attempted to lower the temperature over the firings of the past weeks.

“It has been a trying and difficult few days. I know that,” Bilton began his email. “I’ve spent a lot of time in conversation with many of you, and especially with Lesley [Stahl], Bill [Whittaker], and Jon [Wertheim].”

“The foundation of 60 Minutes is its journalistic independence,” Bilton continued. “We will always pursue stories without fear or favor. We will always make the story the North Star — Not relationships nor politics nor anything else. We will be guided always by what makes the best piece for our viewers. And it should go without saying, but I’ll say it anyway: We will never be instructed by the ownership of the company on those stories.”

In their joint memo, Stahl, Whittaker, and Wertheim wrote that Bilton’s email said “all the right things.”

“It went a long way, and now we need to see these commitments to our process and procedures put into action,” the correspondents wrote. “If we can continue doing the work that made this show what it is — committing acts of independent, fearless journalism and storytelling — we’re here for it. If not, we leave.”

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