Reason.com
Neil Gorsuch on the Declaration of Independence, Originalism, and Separation of Powers
"There was nothing inevitable about it. Absolutely nothing," the Supreme Court justice tells Reason's Nick Gillespie.
Center Right
Alternet.org
Elite journalists aren't speaking truth to power — they're just pretending
Left
You have probably heard the news about journalist Scott Pelley. This week, CBS News, under the leadership of Bari Weiss, fired the longtime anchor and 60 Minutes correspondent. What you may not know about is his parting shot. Here's the section that stood out to me.New management has instructed me to inject falsehoods and bias into a politically sensitive story. I’ve been told to include assertions that are unverified. To date, in every case, I have managed to ignore these instructions or refuse them. Recently, politicians have been invited to choose correspondents for interviews on the broadcast. Giving politicians control over 60 Minutes interviews is not how this is done. Finally, incompetence and unprofessionalism ... have wreaked havoc. In a case involving one of my stories, the entire program came within 19 minutes of not getting on the air at all. From a man of Pelley's standing, this is pretty much like a summary execution. In another time and place, it would be the end of Weiss's career, as her reputation would be irreparable. (Ditto for Nick Bilton, whom she hired to run 60 Minutes.) Forget about politics. Their team can't get the details right. Pelley is calling out a mortal sin with the authority of the pope.And then, as if to confirm the allegations against him, Nick Bilton actually wrote to Pelley explaining his reasons for firing him. Of course, they are not good reasons, as you can see. You hijacked my first meeting with staff to disparage me, my qualifications, and my intentions with remarkable incivility and contempt. I welcome a diversity of viewpoints and respectful debate among the team, but this was nothing of the sort. Yesterday's performative display of hostility enacted in front of the staff instead of in a civil, private conversation demonstrated that you have no interest in contributing to the future success of the show, or approaching my new tenure with a mind open to collaboration and progress. I am here to deliver first-in-class news programming, not to make headlines about newsroom drama. I am eager to work alongside those who share this goal. Despite yesterday's misconduct, I had hoped that in sitting down with you today we could find a path forward together. You made clear that you are not interested ...You can read about the details of that meeting in the Times – Scott Pelley accused the "new management" of "murdering" 60 Minutes – and judge for yourself. From where I'm standing, however, Nick Bilton got mad that Pelley made him look like a putz, because, well, the truth is often painful. Nick Bilton is a p---. According to the Post, the newsroom literally laughed at Bilton and applauded after he left. There isn't enough room at CBS News for him and an award-winning journalist who commands the respect of millions. P--- stays. Pelley goes.Bilton's letter to Scott Pelley got its own Times page yesterday (meaning, there's nothing on the page but a copy of the letter with a hed.) From that kind of exposure perhaps there will be broader public recognition that merit no longer matters in elite news media in the era of Donald Trump. Weiss isn't a hard news reporter, nor is Bilton. Neither has experience managing newsrooms of any size, much less those as big and consequential as CBS's. They went to the right schools. They schmoozed the right people. Those are their qualifications. Scott Pelley is their antipode. He is a model of high standards of excellence and professionalism. Naturally, he had to be eliminated. His mere presence was humiliating.You might think this whole thing is so embarrassing that Weiss and Bilton can't recover. I regret to inform you they will be fine. Everyone working in elite news media knows the score: connections trump integrity. They know this, because they are, like Weiss and Bilton, products of elite schools where everyone is taught to think of themselves as members of a ruling class. There is a fast-track from Yale to the Times, for instance. You don't have to work your way up the ladder. There is no ladder. Weiss may be driving CBS News into the ground, but she is still touched by the hand of Larry Ellison. She may be a failure, but she's still a "winner." Elite journalists will still answer her calls. That Scott Pelley said she instructed him to "inject falsehoods and bias" into his reporting will make no difference at the White House Correspondents Dinner. The moral? Hard work and playing by the rules are a sucker's game.The consequence of all this corruption is a softness of character that gets little attention. Elite newspeople cannot be challenged without falling to pieces. (The Post said Scott Pelley was fired because he "interrogated" his unqualified boss and "questioned his credentials and demanded answers about fired colleagues." In response, Nick Bilton said Pelley "hijacked my first meeting" with "a performative display of hostility.") And if they are, they get vindictive quick.
