CBS' '60 Minutes' is unflinching in its White House coverage in the shadow of Trump's $20B lawsuit
Entertainment
Pelley, meanwhile, has quickly become a polarizing figure.
NEW YORK (AP) — As CBS corporate leaders ponder settling President Donald Trump’s $20 billion lawsuit against the network’s “60 Minutes,” America’s storied newsmagazine has produced some fast and hard-hitting stories critical of the new administration in every episode since Trump was inaugurated.
The latest was Sunday, when CBS News helped pay for a performance featuring non-white middle and high school musicians who had won a contest and with it, the right to play with the U.S. Marine Corps Band. The original concert, however, was canceled because of Trump’s executive order ending diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.
Correspondent Scott Pelley narrated six of the show’s seven stories since Trump’s inauguration, including Sunday’s. He examined the administration’s policies toward Ukraine and tariffs, looked at changes in the Justice Department and reported on firings of government watchdogs. Shortly after his piece on the dismantling of USAID, Elon Musk suggested “long prison sentences” for those working on the show.
All came at a time when television’s most popular and influential news broadcast was being watched to see how it would respond to a unique pressure.
“This may be a lawsuit that is designed to intimidate, but they are clearly making a statement that they will not be intimidated,” said Tom Bettag, a longtime television news producer who worked under Mike Wallace and Morley Safer at the CBS show.
Pelley, meanwhile, has quickly become a polarizing figure.
“Another week, another ‘60 Minutes’ story trying to discredit Trump policies,” Brent Baker, editor of the conservative media watchdog NewsBusters, wrote on X on Sunday night.
