AKA

Another statement from Scott Pelley: I'm saddened to see the transcript of the CBS News morning editorial meeting. Bari Weiss knows what she said is not true. In the meeting on Tuesday, in which I was effectively fired, there was no effort of any kind to "find a way back," as Weiss said in the editorial meeting. At no point did anyone in the Tuesday meeting suggest that there could be steps taken by either side that would lead to a resolution. Weiss and Tom Cibrowski were openly hostile from the start. "Firing" was raised by Cibrowski in the first 15 seconds. No CBS executive, at any time, suggested "a way back." To say so now is disingenuous. And they know it. In fact, Weiss, Cibrowski and Nick Bilton refused to answer my questions. I asked Weiss a number of questions about why she fired the entire senior staff of 60 Minutes a few days before and without cause. "I'm not answering that question," she said. I asked why she did not come to 60 Minutes' offices to explain her actions. "I'm not answering that question." Why did she fire 60 Minutes Executive Producer Tanya Simon? "I'm not answering that question." Why fire correspondent Cecilia Vega? "I'm not answering that question." Why fire correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi? "I'm not answering that question." Throughout the meeting, the CBS executives were abrupt, dismissive and uninterested in dialogue. Suddenly, and to my surprise, Cibrowski declared, "This conversation is over!" "Why?" I asked. "I'm happy to answer your questions." "This conversation is over!" Cibrowski repeated, raising his voice and standing to show me the door. "I'm happy to keep talking," I added. No constructive dialogue was allowed by the CBS executives at any point. I was stonewalled for about 10 minutes and then, for no apparent reason, "This conversation is over." I am pained that the staff of CBS News was misled in the Wednesday morning conference call. These executives cannot gain the trust of the staff with lies. This is antithetical to everything we stand for and reveals contempt for what journalists do.

Scott Pelley’s statement in full: There has never been anything in America like 60 Minutes. The Sunday tradition is the most successful program of any kind in history. For more than a decade, its innovative growth on every major online platform has extended its reach to countless millions around the world. This spring, at the end of our 58th season, 60 Minutes grew rapidly with an unheard-of 9% jump in viewers on CBS. “60” has been the number-one program in America for decades because our beloved audience finds integrity, quality, and humanity in our stories. When stewardship of the program passed to my colleagues and me, our responsibility was to expand energetically into a new age of media technology while preserving the values our audience expects. Now, the new owner of our network is casting this legend aside, apparently to curry a moment of favor with the Trump administration. The waste is heartbreaking. Last month, 60 Minutes lost its DNA when our entire senior leadership and two of our best on-air correspondents were cruelly fired without cause. Good people were silenced because they stood up for our audience. They stood for fairness against the forces of political bias; they stood for professionalism against chaos. For my part, new management has instructed me to inject falsehoods and bias into a politically sensitive story. I’ve been told to include assertions that are unverified. To date, in every case, I have managed to ignore these instructions or refuse them. Recently, politicians have been invited to choose correspondents for interviews on the broadcast. Giving politicians control over 60 Minutes interviews is not how this is done. Finally, incompetence and unprofessionalism in the new management have wreaked havoc. In a case involving one of my stories, the entire program came within 19 minutes of not getting on the air at all. At 60 Minutes, we have fought harder than anyone knows to save the program that became an American icon. We owed that to our millions of viewers. I am deeply moved by the thousands of wishes we have received to “keep up the good fight.” Most of the men and women of CBS News are still in that fight. But now the collapse of values at the top has become untenable. The leadership of 60 Minutes is no longer recognizable. The principles I hold dear are gone, and so I must leave as well. I depart after 37 years at CBS with one emotion—a heart brimming with gratitude for the men and women of CBS News who encouraged and enriched my work, very often at the risk of their own lives. I pray for a day when those people and their ideals are honored again—a day when sanity, competence, and courage return. Scott Pelley

Kudos to Scott Pelley, a wonderful news reporter with impeccable integrity. Getting fired from the festering, anti-journalist and pro-fascism cesspool that CBS has become — and going down in such a blaze of glory — is a badge of honor. Onward and upward.

I blinked and missed it, but in Spokane, KXLY took over the Monday-Friday 7-9 am and nightly 10 pm newscast on KAYU (Fox 28) on March 1. KHQ had been producing KAYU’s newscasts for 22 years. I wonder what caused the dissolution of that news share arrangement. https://www.kxly.com/news/kxly-4-news-kayu-fox-28-partner-to-enhance-morning-and-10-pm-newscasts/article_79504b0e-c3cc-4a37-b588-f8089b5822e0.htmlhttps://www.kxly.com/news/kxly-4-news-kayu-fox-28-partner-to-enhance-morning-and-10-pm-newscasts/article_79504b0e-c3cc-4a37-b588-f8089b5822e0.html

Chief Meteorologist Jeremy Lagoo has abruptly, and with no advance notice to the viewers, left KREM — and based on his tearful farewell, it doesn’t appear he did so willingly: There’s a rumor on local Reddit, unconfirmed, that he was fired because he mentioned during one of his forecasts that climate change is impacting the weather locally. Could this move have been made by KREM to appease the incoming right-wing leadership at Nexstar? Complicating matters is that Lagoo is engaged to KREM morning anchor Nicole Hernandez. His Facebook post announcing his departure reads: Never stop fighting for what is right. I loved my job. My career was a dream. I am heartbroken. If you watched it live, the tears were real. The pain is real. For a long time, I was a vagabond. I didn’t belong. Somewhere along the way, sharing my love of weather not only got me paid, but gave me purpose. I cannot express my gratitude for you accepting me and trusting me. It means the world to me. Thank you. I will be staying in Spokane. The Inland Northwest is my home. The outdoors drew me in, the people kept me. My love for weather will never fade. I will always love talking the forecast or even some weird clouds you saw last week. Nicole and I will be getting married at the end of May. I feel blessed to have found my soulmate. I promise to never take that for granted and to cherish every moment together. I will always care about my community and will work to make it better. For everyone. It’s not goodbye. It’s see you around. Be good, Jeremy

‘Last Week Tonight With John Oliver’ Auction Raises More Than $1.5 Million for Public Broadcasting, Including New Record for a Bob Ross Painting

You’re not wrong. There’s also an evening edition of The Weekend that starts at 6 pm ET.

Jimmy Kimmel’s Lifelong Friend and Jimmy Kimmel Live! Band Leader Cleto Escobedo Dies at 59: 'We Are Heartbroken'

Exactly. I hope his son with the heart defect is okay.

Mary Ann Wilson, registered nurse and host of ‘Sit and Be Fit,’ dies at 87

Northwest Public Broadcasting halts KWSU-TV operations A public television station founded 63 years ago on the campus of Washington State University will go dark at the end of the year. KWSU-TV Pullman, operated jointly by WSU’s Edward R. Murrow College of Communications and Northwest Public Broadcasting, will cease operations on Dec. 31 following recent budget cuts and the loss of federal funding. The TV station, which is a secondary provider – meaning that it has smaller audiences and limited opportunity to show top-tier public broadcasting – served mostly the Palouse region. Most Washington viewers who have access to KSPS in Spokane will not lose programming as a result of the shutdown. But the KWSU station, which was one of the earliest educational TV stations in the Northwest, was nonetheless an outlet that provided rural viewers a chance to access educational programming provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. More here.

I think what’s likely to happen is ABC moves to KIRO once CBS inevitably moves to KSTW.

Are you okay, boss? This is just a message board. Take a deep breath; you’re gonna be okay.

The Great Media Knee Bending of 2025 continues. Pathetic.

https://variety.com/2024/tv/news/wheel-of-fortune-jeopardy-sony-sues-cbs-lawsuit-1236196675/

KXLY (Spokane) is now carrying a double-run of Judy Justice at 3 p.m. in direct competition with KHQ’s double-run of Judge Judy reruns. Is this happening in other markets? I know CBS was trying to put the kibosh on it by leveraging their other shows, and KXLY airs Entertainment Tonight and Inside Edition in prime access.

Letterman’s strike beard wasn’t that long, especially compared to what he’s been sporting since he retired. He looked less like Santa Claus and more like the Gorton’s Fisherman.

I assume most will become news-heavy, a’la KCAL.

https://deadline.com/2023/05/cbs-stations-eight-drop-cw-go-independent-this-fall-1235357388/ Not a shock, but interesting in the cases of Seattle and Atlanta. I wonder what Paramount has planned for those stations.

In my market, all three network news shows air at 5:30 PT, (sandwiched between local newscasts), and they’re usually “west coast updates.”