CBS 60 Minutes, Bari Weiss, Scott Pelly, and Red Lines

The recent chaos involving CBS 60 Minutes Correspondent Scott Pelly, CBS News Executive Editor in Chief Bari Weiss, and Executive Producer of 60 Minutes Nick Bolton is very interesting for several reasons which I will discuss in this blog.

It may surprise many of my family and friends, but I have always enjoyed the 60 Minutes show. Not because I thought it was always an objective news story on current event topics, but because it gave me the perspective of center-left thinking. Always good to understand what others are sharing from a viewpoint different from my own. I usually found the 60 Minute show presented very well even if I thought the content was often biased in a leftward leaning direction.  I was disappointed that CBS largely failed to leverage its producers and correspondents’ considerable journalistic talents to cover stories regarding abuse of power and mistakes made by political figures on the left, but that was probably too much to expect. One correspondent that I admired for his attempt at some modicum of objectivity was Senior Correspondent Anderson Cooper. I was particularly impressed with how he handled an October 9, 2022, interview with Pastor Bart Barber, the pastor of the First Baptist Church of Farmersville Texas, who at the time was also the President of the Southern Baptist Convention. Pastor Barber did not flinch as he answered Anderson’s questions and set forth a clear Biblical world view perspective on topics such as Abortion, Same Sex Marriage, and Political Polarization. As an openly gay man, Cooper did not attack or attempt to disparage Pastor Barber even though I imagine that Cooper disagreed with much of what Pastor Barber shared. https://www.cbs.com/shows/video/3PfiI6vpfoRml0Qx2BvVMGlmcR0pj8F_/.

My sense is that Bari Weiss and her new team at 60 Minutes had bold plans to change world view perspective and focus at 60 Minutes to make it more appealing to a more diverse audience. This came into clear focus recently when 60 Minute Correspondent Scott Pelly went ballistic in attacking new 60 Minute executive producer Nick Bilton in a staff meeting. Pelly pulled no punches with his anger and vitriol directed at Weiss and Bilton for the recent changes and staff firings at 60 Minutes which he found untenable. And to no one’s great surprise, Pelly’s employment was appropriately terminated for cause by CBS. Scott Pelly found out the hard way that just about everyone has a boss, and it is almost always the case that the boss gets the last word when all the marbles are at stake!

I believe the drama associated with Scott Pelly’s termination illustrates a teaching moment for everyone employed by Corporate America, especially Evangelical Christians, actively practicing Roman Catholics, and Observant Jews (for this purpose collectively, “People of Faith”). The leadership and staff changes at 60 Minutes and the anticipated changes in the focus and content of the program seemingly constituted a “red line” for Scott Pelly. I can assure People of Faith that they will likely have a time in their career where they will experience a red line experience or close to a red line experience where their faith will be tested. In my book, Almost Finished {https://a.co/d/04UT8LPa.}, I shared an experience in which I was asked by my company to make a political campaign contribution to a candidate who was clearly and strongly in favor of abortion. While I had no objection to making campaign contributions to political candidates that were helpful to my company’s business interests, I knew this request was a hard no red line for me. I knew this was a request would involve me acting in violation of my Christian faith and respect for the lives of the unborn. But I had no desire to create a “Scott Pelly moment” either. Thankfully, I was able to share my concerns with a Senior Executive at my company who was also a committed Christan. He advised me to speak to the leader who requested to political contribution to the pro-abortion candidate and request the opportunity to contribute to another candidate on the company’s “list.” Without any hesitation, I followed his suggestion and was able to arrange to contribute to a candidate whose pro-life position was compatible with my own.

Please don’t hear me say that every red line experience can be solved as easily as my own red line. But what I am saying is that when People of Faith are faced with a clear red line challenge, there is nothing to lose and perhaps everything to gain by engaging and speaking civilly with someone in authority to share your concern and seek a solution that does not violate your faith-based commitment. Of course, it may be the case that there is no appropriate solution for the red line, and a difficult decision may be required. But I see no value or worthwhile objective to be obtained by pursing the “scorched earth” path chosen by 60 Minute Correspondent Scott Pelly.

God bless you and thank you for the privilege of your time in reading my blog.