The Remaining ’60 Minutes’ Staff Should Quit Crying, Roll Up Their Sleeves and Go to Work

Screenshot via CBS

I love 60 Minutes. Truly. As someone who likes to tell stories, the show has always had a hold on me — as I consider it one of the great storytelling vehicles that’s ever existed. I want to see it survive and thrive going forward.

And it is in that spirit that I implore the remaining staff at 60 Minutes: Shut up, quit crying and go to work.

See, at this point, it’s not really about whether CBS News editor in chief Bari Weiss is “murdering” the storied newsmagazine, as newly-fired correspondent Scott Pelley claimed. It’s about whether those still around at 60 Minutes really want to be part of its demise. Because if they really want to save 60 Minutes, they need to do the exact opposite of what Scott Pelley did.

Scott Pelley’s grandstanding in front of his colleagues on Monday accomplished nothing. It didn’t change one iota of public sentiment. If, three days ago, you believed Bari Weiss was taking a wrecking ball to 60 Minutes on behalf of corporate bosses trying to curry favor with President Donald Trump, you still believe that. If you didn’t, Pelley did absolutely nothing to convince you.

Pelley had his opportunity to fight for 60 Minutes, and instead, decided to cut and run. It was somewhat ironic coming from a guy, on his way out, who boasted about his war coverage. “I have been in combat in Afghanistan,” Pelley told The New York Times Tuesday. “I have been in combat in Iraq. I have been in the war zone in Ukraine multiple times, risking my life and the happiness of my family because of my devotion to the broadcast.”

While it unquestionably takes guts to visit those dangerous places, Pelley hasn’t exactly “been in combat.” He’s watched it. And watching combat, even from an extremely close distance, is not the same as participating in it. When it was his turn to step on the front line — a front line nowhere near as dangerous as those in Ukraine and Afghanistan — Scott Pelley cowered.

And now he’s not there to defend 60 Minutes from the inside anymore. He’s cashed in his chips. His race is run. Scott Pelley will have no impact on the future of 60 Minutes. Its future will be decided by those still there.

And 60 Minutes fans should be concerned that those in the building seem to be taking their cues from him. In Tuesday night’s edition of Status — an outlet which has become a favorite of disgruntled CBS News staffers in recent months — Oliver Darcy wrote that Pelley’s firing “devastated many inside 60 Minutes. Inside the show’s offices, I’m told that tears flowed openly after Pelley returned from his meeting with the network heads and indicated that the end was near. ‘Staffers are apoplectic,’ a person familiar with the mood told Status.”

Tough. Deal with it.

Every day, millions upon millions of Americans go to work at jobs they don’t love, for bosses they don’t agree with. Doesn’t matter how clueless they think the leadership might be. They grit their teeth, roll up their sleeves and punch the clock. It’s the 60 Minutes staff’s turn to do the same. The team that puts out America’s preeminent newsmagazine has got to show some good old fashioned American grit to survive.

It remains to be seen whether Bari Weiss earnestly is seeking to simply modernize CBS News — as she has stated — or if she is covertly working on behalf of corporate overlords to gut it, in an effort to cozy up to Donald Trump. On one hand, she’s made moves that are hard to understand (the firing of 60 Minutes correspondent Cecilia Vega, for one). On the other, her many critics — if they are being honest with themselves — would have to admit they haven’t really given her a fair shake.

But even if, for the sake of argument, Bari Weiss really is looking to turn CBS into Fox News, 60 Minutes staffers can stand in the way of that — simply by standing in the way. Even if Weiss is the monster her most ardent critics say she is, one day — be it a year from now or 10 years from now — she’ll be gone. And if they outlast her, the staff of 60 Minutes could potentially turn the page. But they can’t do that if the book on 60 Minutes is closed for good.

Because here’s the thing about stories that the master storytellers at 60 Minutes ought to know: Stories have arcs. They have ebbs and flows. That’s what makes them compelling. That’s what makes them worth telling.

The story of 60 Minutes has been told over 58 incredible years. It has had many ups. It’s had a few downs. It’s a story worth continuing.

The old guard obviously sees themselves as the heroes of the 60 Minutes story. If that’s true, then now is the moment when they prove it. Heroes don’t run from an obstacle, even — and especially — when that obstacle seems insurmountable. Heroes dig in and overcome those obstacles. And it makes for a heck of a story when they do.

The nation’s greatest storytellers now have the chance to write their own story. But they can’t do that if they decide to put down their pens.

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Joe DePaolo is the Editor in Chief of Mediaite.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.

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