Only the Good Bye Young

The demolishing of 60 Minutes has become a metaphor for what’s happening at once-respected mainstays across the country. Clowns for hire are determined to ruin institutions from the inside, and people dedicated to upholding their values are eventually fired or forced to quit out of principle. After a heated staff meeting in which he accused the CBS editor in chief, Bari Weiss, of ‘murdering’ his news show, CBS News Fires Scott Pelley. And from Jim Acosta: When 60 Minutes is in Trouble, We are All in Trouble.

+ Because the 60 Minutes saga so closely mirrors what’s happening across government and media, it’s worth paying close attention to Pelley’s exit letter. Here are some outtakes: “Now, the new owner of our network is casting this legend aside, apparently to curry a moment of favor with the Trump administration. The waste is heartbreaking … For my part, 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 … the collapse of values at the top has become untenable. The leadership of 60 Minutes is no longer recognizable. The principles I hold dear are gone, and so I must leave as well. depart after 37 years at CBS with one emotion—a heart brimming with gratitude for the men and women of CBS News who encouraged and enriched my work, very often at the risk of their own lives. I pray for a day when those people and their ideals are honored again—a day when sanity, competence, and courage return.” The destruction, the falsehoods, the collapse of values, the disappearing principles, and a prayer for sanity, competence, and courage to return. See what I mean by this story being a metaphor for the broader American story? In both cases, the clock is ticking.