Pelley’s speech came just before CBS News CEO Wendy McMahon announced her resignation amid clashes between the network and parent company Paramount
Scott Pelley, the principal correspndent for 60 Minutes, on Monday took shots at President Donald Trump, his supporters, and CBS News owner Paramount in a commencement address at Wake Forest University. Shortly after his remarks concluded, the CEO of CBS News, Wendy McMahon announced she’s resigning, saying she and Paramount “do not agree on a path forward.” Paramount is currently trying to settle a lawsuit Trump has filed against CBS over an October 2024 60 Minutes interview with then-vice president Kamala Harris, and McMahon is believed to oppose a settlement.
Pelley compared “this moment” to the United States Civil War, the Second World War, and the Civil Rights Movement, and dug in to defend DEI initiatives even as Paramount has said it would end those programs.
“Why attack universities? Why attack journalism?” he asked. “Because ignorance works for power. First, make the truth-seekers live in fear … power can rewrite history with grotesque false narratives,” Pelley told an audience of newly minted college graduates and their families in Winston-Salem, N.C. “They can make criminals heroes and heroes criminals. Power can change the definition of the words we use to describe reality. ‘Diversity’ is now described as ‘illegal.’ ‘Equity’ is to be shunned. ‘Inclusion’ is a dirty word.”
Pelley made waves late last month when he appeared at the end of 60 Minutes and criticized Paramount, after the program’s executive producer, Bill Owens, resigned under pressure over the same issues that felled McMahon. In his commencement speech on Monday, Pelley characterized the United States in Trump’s second term as a country in which its citizens are “afraid to speak” and likened the year 2025 to 1861, 1941, and 1968.
“If our government is, in Lincoln’s phrase, ‘of the people, by the people, for the people,’ then why are we afraid to speak?” Pelley asked. “The Wake Forest class of 1861, they did not choose their time of calling. The class of 1941 did not choose. The class of 1968 did not choose. History chose them, and now history is calling you, the class of 2025.”
“In this moment, this morning, our sacred rule of law is under attack,” he continued. “Journalism is under attack. Universities are under attack. Freedom of speech is under attack. And insidious fear is reaching through our schools, our businesses, our homes, and into our private thoughts.”
Pelley also compared truth-tellers—ostensibly including himself—to Martin Luther King Jr. writing his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.”
“In that letter, Dr. King says that the first thing that has to be done in the pursuit of justice is collecting the facts,” Pelley told the audience. “Power was telling him—in a jail cell—do not speak the truth because power will crush you.”
The clash between Trump and the media to which Pelley was referring played out in real terms with the resignation of Pelley’s boss, McMahon, announced late Monday morning. Her comment that she and Paramount “do not agree on a path forward” was widely interpreted as a shot at Paramount chairwoman Shari Redstone, who is reportedly pushing Paramount to settle Trump’s lawsuit over 60 Minutes. Paramount is in the advanced stages of being acquired by Skydance, but the transaction is currently being held up by the Trump administration. According to multiple reports, Redstone hopes that settling Trump’s lawsuit will clear a path for the transaction to consummate. The closely read Hollywood journalist Matt Belloni reported last week that settlement talks ended “with a whimper” since the two sides are too far apart.
Trump is suing CBS for $20 billion over edits 60 Minutes made to the Harris interview, which aired just weeks from election day. The producers edited one of her answers to make her sound more coherent. CBS says that editing interviews for brevity and concision is standard practice, while Trump says CBS was helping Harris, who at the time of the interview was under fire for being unable to express herself clearly. Trump says CBS’ conduct could have cost him the election, and that they should pay “a lot.”
McMahon drew a “red line” over apologizing for the segment, according to the Status media newsletter. She has also been under pressure from Redstone over anti-Israel bias at CBS News. Redstone publicly criticized CBS News management after McMahon’s deputy at the time rebuked CBS Mornings cohost Tony Dokoupil for violating the network’s editorial standards when he asked tough questions of the virulently anti-Israel author, Ta-Nehisi Coates, last year. Redstone described the reprimand as a “bad mistake” and took Dokoupil to lunch.
Redstone has also reportedly objected to 60 Minutes’ coverage of the Israel-Hamas war. A 60 Minutes segment in January on the subject relied on the Hamas-supporting Council on American-Islamic Relations and correspondent Lesley Stahl came under fire when she asked the rescued Israeli-American hostage Keith Siegel whether he was starved in captivity because the Hamas terrorists themselves had run out of food.
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