60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley went off on the potential settlement of the lawsuit brought by President Donald Trump over the show’s interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris. In an interview which immediately followed CNN’s presentation of the broadway play Good Night, and Good Luck on Saturday, Pelley spoke out about the state of American journalism — which was the subject of the play, in which George Clooney portrayed legendary CBS anchor Edward R. Murrow. The play depicts Murrow’s battle with Senator Joseph McCarthy and the fear tactics he regularly used as part of his effort to root out communists.
Pelley believes there are parallels to the present day. “I sense in the country today that there is also a fear to speak because it might wipe out your university, it might wipe out your law firm, it might ruin your career,” Pelley said. “And the theme of all of that together today is that we have to have the courage to speak as Americans you can agree with the government or disagree with the government, but you must not be silent.” Pelley recently went viral for an anti-Trump commencement address he delivered at Wake Forest University.
“Journalism is under attack,” Pelley said, in his speech at the school on May 19. “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.
The fear to speak – in America!” The 60 Minutes correspondent explained why he made those remarks. “I felt very strongly that this was something that needed to be said,” Pelley said. “It did not strike me that it would impact people’s thought of me as a journalist because part of that speech is a speech about freedom of speech that should be noncontroversial.” CNN’s Anderson Cooper, who conducted the interview with Pelley on Saturday, noted that Pelley didn’t actually refer to President Trump by name in his speech.
“I don’t refer to him or the president or the White House or the administration,” Pelley said. “But I was talking about actions that have been taken by the government over these last many months. But there was a little bit of hysteria among some about this speech, and I simply ask you what does it say about our country when there’s hysteria about a speech that’s about freedom of speech?” The conversation soon shifted to the Trump lawsuit over the interview from Harris from last October — which the president says was deceptively edited.
CBS’ parent company Paramount is in talks with the president’s legal team to settle the suit — with the primary reason widely believed to be that Paramount CEO Shari Redstone wants to appease the president so that his FCC will approve the sale of Paramount to Skydance Media. “If there is a settlement, and as part of the settlement there’s an apology [to Trump], how damaging is that to CBS?” Cooper asked Pelley. “It will be very damaging to CBS, to Paramount, to the reputation of those companies,” Pelley replied bluntly.
Pelley made clear his frustration with the lack of support from the top of the corporation. “You really wish the company was behind you 100 percent, right?” Pelley said. “You really wish the top echelons of the company would would come out publicly and say 60 Minutes, for example, is a crown jewel of American journalism and we stand behind it 100 percent.
I haven’t heard that.” Watch above, via CNN.
