On the murder of “60 Minutes”
The inestimable Scott Pelley has reportedly accused Bari Weiss of murdering the long-running television show “60 Minutes.” This charge was leveled during a heated meeting between Mr. Nick Bilton, the show’s new executive producer, and the staff. Ms. Weiss has “no qualifications for her job,” while Mr. Bilton has “slender qualifications” for his, according the Mr. Pelley.
This perfectly encapsulated how awful the media is; how lacking in self-awareness; its complete inability to self-critize; and the entirely unearned self-righteousness that is so prevalent among members of the press.
Quoting a piece in Variety, “Correspondents can make as much as $5 million each year…while the executive producer earns around $2.5 million and the executive editor around $1 million. Each correspondent typically has a team of four or more senior producers, each of whom can command between $200,000 and $300,000 per year.”
This while recent polls show trust in media is at an all-time low of 28%. Or perhaps a better way of phrasing it is that polls show a shockingly high 28% of people still have trust in the media.
Instead of looking in the mirror and asking, “Am I doing my job well? Do people trust me?” journalists - using the word very loosely here - instead look in the mirror and preen. They pat themselves on the back and pretend they are guardians of the First Amendment! The Fourth Estate! We hold power to account!
No, you do not. A handful may do those things, when a Republican is in the White House, but most are, as a wiser man than I put it, smug, conceited, and - most ironically - censorious.
People do not trust you because CNN had to pay out undisclosed millions to a Navy veteran whom the network defamed. CNN also had to pay another undisclosed amount to Nick Sandmann, whom the network defamed as a racist for smiling as a Native American man beat a drum in his face. ABC had to pay $15 million to Donald Trump in a defamation lawsuit. There are all kinds of terrible things one can say about Trump where truth would be an absolute defense, but George Stephanopoulos could not even manage that. Paramount (who owns “60 Minutes”) also settled for $16 million with Trump for deceptively editing an interview with then-candidate Kamala Harris.
Sharon Alfonsi, whose contract with “60 Minutes” was not renewed recently, nodded along happily during an interview with German prosecutors who happily raided a man’s home and arrested him for the crime of posting a cartoon online. Her contract should have been yanked the instant she endorsed the concept of arresting people for online posts. The irony of a supposed journalist agreeing with the criminalization of speech simply boggles the mind. While irony may be, as Csezlaw Mislow said, the glory of slaves, the amount of glory contained in that segment is quite simply too much for any mortal man to endure. Alfonsi’s firing was among the litany of injustices Mr. Pelley complained about, calling the day she, and other members of the “60 Minutes” staff were dismissed, “Black Thursday.” A handful of people being fired is “Black Thursday.” This melodrama is also nigh unbearable, but allegedly, the staff of “60 Minutes” clapped for Mr. Pelley after Mr. Bilton left the room. Which makes sense when one recalls the complete lack of self-awareness and smugness so rampant in the media.
If I were running “60 Minutes” I would simply fire everyone. Since Mr. Pelley obviously finds the new work environment intolerable, he should be free to find new employment. Anyone who clapped for his condescending speech can join him at his new employer. A quick reminder to the “60 Minutes” team: the NFL is the lead-in to your program. Without that, your viewership would drop significantly. You all may love the smell of your own farts, but you must understand that the vast majority of the public is tired of the stench.
