All credit goes to Reb Harry Maryles: 60 Minutes and Anti-Israel Bias An iconic TV journalist is fired

 

All credit goes to Reb Harry Maryles

Harry Maryles

Jun 04, 2026

           Scott Pelley - late of 60 Minutes (WSJ)

Scott Pelley seems like a truly nice guy. An honest reporter who doesn’t seem to inject his personal biases into his reporting. Biases that, I’m sure, tend heavily toward the left. I am sorry to see him go.

Yesterday, the mainstream media reported that he was fired from his job at the mega-popular TV news magazine, 60 Minutes.

What precipitated his departure was a heated confrontation at a staff meeting with 60 Minutes’ newly installed executive producer, Nick Bilton.

Apparently, Pelley came into that meeting with ‘both guns blazing’! Upset about the departures of the show’s previous producer, Tanya Simon, and two of its regular correspondents, Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega.

The issue at hand is the accusation that CBS’s new management has tried to interfere with the journalistic integrity and freedom of expression of its reporters by forcing them to insert “lies” into their reports. Pelley argued that their stories should be left exactly as they reported them in their supposedly pristine objectivity.

I had to laugh when I read those comments, which were made by both Pelley and Vega. If I had to guess, I would say that Pelley was parroting what Vega had claimed, reflecting her own bias. A bias that became overtly obvious about a year ago in a 60 Minutes segment that was so slanted against Israel that even a child would have noticed it.

This is what I said about it at the time:

Vega interviewed some disgruntled State Department employees who had resigned over what they claimed was the U.S. government’s mishandling of the “atrocities” being committed by the Netanyahu government in its war with Hamas. The report made it seem as though these individuals possessed inside information and irrefutable evidence of Israeli atrocities, which they described in considerable detail.

None of this was verified by independent sources. And it was certainly far from established fact. Yet, as is often 60 Minutes’ habit, the report made it sound as though its version of events was the only truth. They had absolutely no problem ignoring Israel’s side of the story—which, in my view, was probably much closer to reality than what 60 Minutes was peddling.

This is what they consider balanced reporting.

What could be less balanced than that hit piece? This is the kind of reporting that Vega doesn’t want any ‘lies’ inserted into. By ‘lies’ she means facts and perspectives that challenge her preconceived notion of the truth.

To show that this wasn’t an isolated incident of anti-Israel bias, there was the harsh rebuke by the then CBS new director of reporter Tony Dokoupil who - during an interview - dared to challenge the author of an anti-Israel book by asking why he reported only the Palestinian perspective while ignoring the Israeli one. That rebuke generated honest pushback from some of CBS’s own correspondents—an unusual event given the sensitivity surrounding job security in network news.

At about that same time, a politically conservative, pro-Israel news executive, Bari Weiss, was brought in to help reshape the news division. She has since elevated Dokoupil to be the nightly news anchor and has been involved in broader efforts to overhaul the network’s news operation and change its leftward tilt.

I never thought I would see the day when 60 Minutes would face serious internal challenges to its leftist editorial culture and attempt to become a more politically balanced news magazine.

I, for one, am more than happy to see Vega go. I don’t know much about Alfonsi’s views, but I can guess based on criticism she received over one of her own anti-Trump segments.

I wish I could say, ‘Problem solved’. All will be well, and future broadcasts will be more balanced - if not more favorable to Israel. Sadly, that will very likely not be the case.

The mainstream media is all over this story with a level of outrage usually reserved for far more consequential events. Their bias is more than obvious as they overwhelmingly embrace the narrative offered by Pelley and Vega - that CBS management is demanding that reporters insert lies into their stories in order to advance a conservative agenda.

The fate of the remaining 60 Minutes correspondents remains to be seen. But if I had to guess, it won’t be long before more of them are gone as well. Either by quitting in protest or by being dismissed.

Pelley is being treated like a saint and hero of television journalism who was fired merely for expressing his opinion. Lost in much of the coverage are reports that management attempted to keep him on the program.

What about the assertion of lies into their stories they are accusing CBS executives of demanding? My guess is that those alleged ‘lies’ are simply perspectives that differ from the ones they regard as the only legitimate truth. As was the case with the above-mentioned Vega report on Israel.

Pelley and company are receiving near-universal backing from their TV journalist colleagues throughout the media. There has been little effort to determine which version of events is accurate

With that in mind, a public that has trusted a program that has been on the air since 1968 will almost certainly believe the media’s portrayal of events rather than the claims made by CBS’s new leadership.

I’m not sure what the future holds for 60 Minutes. But if the handwriting is now on the wall for a news magazine whose anti-Israel bias became stronger than ever since the Gaza war began, then I say: good riddance.

Israel could certainly use a break from a highly influential news programs that consistently bashes her.