Lesley Stahl is opening up about her difficult decision to stay on as a correspondent for 60 Minutes.
“It’s just been obviously the hardest chapter of my career,” the longtime broadcast reporter, who has logged 35 years with the CBS News program, told Puck News in a new interview. “And it’s been a long career.”
She continued, “It’s been over 50 years. This was by far the worst experience I’ve been involved in, or even witnessed. I mean, firing seven people, including the entire management team over here, plus reporters and producers…”
Following the hiring of executive producer Nick Bilton May 28, the stalwart newsmagazine has seen a wave of dismissals — among them, correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega, as well as executive editor Draggan Mihailovich. The tumult grew when veteran Scott Pelley accused the October-installed editor-in-chief Bari Weiss of “murdering” the show, questioning her and Bilton’s qualifications, during an introductory meeting last Monday. A day later, the 37-year veteran of the organization was also let go.
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Stahl’s comments come after she, Bill Whitaker and Jon Wertheim released a joint memo Friday regarding their decision to “stay and fight.” The three remaining full-time staffers wrote: “We feared that our returning might be construed as an endorsement of the existing power structure. That is simply categorically not the case. Here’s why we are staying: We don’t want to see 60 Minutes die.”
“As far as we can tell — because no explanation has ever been offered, they were expelled because they fought for our 60 Minutes values and stood up to protect our independence and integrity,” the correspondents wrote. Pelley, Alfonsi and Vega have alleged that higher ups at the network had interfered with their work due to political reasons.
Their memo came shortly after Bilton released his own statement Thursday, promising that the program would retain its independence from corporate ownership.
Stahl is the longest veteran on the show, having joined 60 Minutes in 1991; meanwhile Whitaker began his tenure in 2014, and Wertheim in 2017.