AN OPEN LETTER TO
JOURNALIST SCOTT PELLEY
by Cash Michaels
Dear Mr. Pelley, I hope this missive finds you and your family in good health and GOD’s good graces.
First of all, it’s an honor to write to you, sir, because the integrity of your work over the years has been simply outstanding, and as many have already established in their tributes, you have set a high standard for journalism for others to follow and emulate. There can be no question that we need as many Scott Pelleys, Peter Jennings and Ed Bradleys that we can get in our profession, so that they may continue to serve the American public with what has been nothing short of absolute excellence in informing us about the stories and critical issues we all need to know more about.
Especially now, during these tenuous times when our democracy is at absolute risk and under attack. Beyond the slow process of the courts, nothing else but sharp, unafraid, unfiltered, diligent journalism will help people claw their democracy back from those who seek to destroy it in favor of a corrupt monarchy - the one thing our country was designed never to tolerate.
I write you, sir, because as a kindred spirit, I share your deep concerns about the future, and the integrity of your former employer, the CBS News television magazine 60 Minutes, which has dutifully served us over the last 58 years. The pioneering names associated with that hallowed institution are legendary - Mike Wallace, Morley Safer, Ed Bradley, Lesley Stahl, Steve Kroft, and of course, you sir, Scott Pelley, among others.
With a distinguished pantheon like that, where will the next proven leaders of our profession come from, and who will they be?
I remember as a teenager, Mr. Pelley, growing up in Brooklyn, NY, and rushing home from playing basketball all Sunday afternoon just in time for 60 Minutes to see what ripoff used car dealership Mike Wallace was going to expose with a hidden camera that week, or what slimy politician’s door Mike was going to knock on next and scare the holy life out of when he introduced himself. 60 Minutes has indeed changed over the years, but it remains appointment television for millions of viewers like myself every week. You sir, were a big reason for that.
One Sunday evening back in the 1970’s when I was a kid, I rushed home in time to see a fascinating story by correspondent Morley Safer about the framing of some Black activists and a white woman in a small southern town way down in North Carolina, and how they had been falsely convicted of firebombing a white-owned grocery store there, and sent to prison. I never forgot that story.
Little did I know about 40 years later, I would be living and working in North Carolina as a reporter, would meet many of those same activists, then write stories and produce an award-winning documentary about their over four decade-long post-conviction quest for justice. I’m extremely proud to say my investigative work into the case of the Wilmington Ten revealed evidence of atrocious and racist prosecutorial corruption, and helped to secure pardons of innocence from the NC governor for the Ten in 2013.
Today the names of those activists remain cleared because of the long-lasting inspiration of Mr. Safer’s excellent 60 Minutes segment had on me when I was a teen.
Now has 60 Minutes had a few hiccups along the way? Certainly, most notably its controversial cigarette industry investigation, and the critical importance then of having an informed whistleblower tell the American public what he knew about the dangers of smoking and cigarette marketing.
That story almost tore 60 Minutes apart because of the powerful influence of the tobacco industry CBS faced before finally airing a complete and honest version of the story, and giving the American people the unadulterated truth about Big Tobacco.
And now, here we are, just over thirty years later, and again 60 Minutes is forced to face corporate pressure, allegedly at the behest of a despicable runaway president of the United States who has made his contempt for honest journalism, and hatred for 60 Minutes specifically and unquestionably, clear.
In the span of just a few months, a new, totally inexperienced “editor-in-chief” was brought in to “murder” CBS News and, as you put it, “put a thumb on the scale on behalf of the administration” when it came to the respected news organization’s operations.
So how does one “murder” 60 Minutes, many might ask? Simple, by undermining that institution’s high standards for telling truth to power and journalistic independence. By sacrificing its honor and courage for an opportunist and proven contrarian to the rule of law.
But, as you alleged in your powerful NY Times interview after your dismissal, allowing the administration to inject undue influence into the fact-based journalism process was a level of political interference you’d never seen at CBS News or 60 Minutes during your almost 40 years there.
Mr. Pelley, the reason why your fiery resistance to the bastardization of 60 Minutes is so important and noteworthy is because you are speaking for the rest of us who have no intention of looking the other way while the very integrity of our nation’s existence is being burned to the ground by a proven grifter-in-chief and his minions.
Especially one who believes he is entitled to screw this nation any which way he can get away with, and be celebrated for it.
If all that you allege is true (and I don’t doubt it) about a serious compromise of journalistic values, CBS News is indeed “on fire” as you read this.
I became a journalist, Mr. Pelley, because, simply put, I hate bullies. I also decided to practice our profession because I loved good, honest, effective storytelling, storytelling that helped people who needed it, storytelling that shined the critical light of understanding on a subject or condition, and felt I was capable of it.
Storytelling that brought about positive change, especially for my community.
That’s why, as a reporter for several small radio stations, and then small Black newspapers here in North Carolina, I felt the undeniable urge to always look for the truth, and accurately and honestly report that truth as I found it. I was working primarily for a community that not only deserved, but demanded that kind of adherence to duty, because I instinctively knew that few outside of our community, who did not share in our history or values, would dedicate themselves as fully as I could to the task.
So I know how devoted you felt about working at 60 Minutes, about journalism and about working to serve the country you deeply love.
During the course of my long career, have I made mistakes? Certainly I have, and many of those mistakes still sting to this day. But those mistakes also helped me become better at my work, and for whom I did that work for. Those mistakes forced me to be honest about just how powerful my work can be, and the positive change that it can, and has brought about. From helping free young people falsely accused of crimes they did not commit, to inspiring legislation to ensure that underserved communities receive their fair measure of justice, equality and resources.
I very much understand your outrage about what inexperienced interlopers are doing to your former shop at 60 Minutes, Mr. Pelley. For the years that you were there, you and your colleagues built a coveted sanctuary of truth and did your very best. Your collective work was heralded. You made tons of money for your corporate owners. All of you as a "family" became an industry trademark for excellence.
Anyone who walked through the doors of your offices to work came with the understanding that they were joining a ready-made family - no pretenders allowed. Either you have the credentials, the skills, the commitment, the discipline and the understanding, and fit in, or you just worked somewhere else.
That’s not being cliquish. That’s being professional to the highest level imaginable, incredibly, for almost six decades and running.
And that deep, deep devotion to reporting the truth as a unique collective, and doing so with such high proficiency, is what scares the powerful, especially people who live by lies and distractions. What did Donald Trump tell Lesley Stahl back in 2016 about why he attacks the news media as “fake”?
“In order to “discredit you all and demean you all so when you write negative stories about me, no one will believe you.”
The moment Trump was sworn into office way back in January 2017, Mr. Pelly, castrating 60 Minutes was on his bucket list, and now he’s done it, with a phony lawsuit, and influencing CBS’ new owners.
But you warned us, sir. And now all of us devoted to the same principles that you coveted during your long career at CBS must stand in the breach of your departure, and continue the struggle to seek out the truth, and hopefully, encourage our readers and audiences, the citizens of this great nation, to standup, and save our country, by voting like our lives depended on it this November, to defang this demon to democracy we all face.
It did my heart good to watch NBC Meet the Press moderator Kristen Welker stand firm recently in the face of Donald Trump, demanding he back up his false contentions about election fraud in California and the 2020 election. She was determined to hold him accountable for his lies before he stormed off set, and she made us proud.
Ms. Welker, along with ABC’s Rachel Scott and CNN’s Abby Phillip (both of whom have also held their ground when confronting this president), represent the future of journalism in my book, young women of color today who are near the top of their profession, willing to work hard, and challenge power with the truth.
To be fair, CBS Editor-in-chief Bari Weiss has defended terminating you, 60 Minutes colleagues Cecilia Vega and Sharyn Alfonsi, and your executive producer, Tanya Simon, along with several key senior staff members, saying that CBS News and 60 Minutes are going in a different direction, with a new vision. Based on her actions thus far, there are considerable questions about what that “new vision” will be. Reports are she isn’t doing all that well.
Your critics have gleefully joined the fray, of course. As you know, President Trump, for example, has called you a “stiff.” Someone needs to inform our 1940’s mob-minded MAGA leader that no one says things like that anymore, unless they work part-time at the Al Capone Museum of Outdated Cliches.
Of course it should be noted that your longtime colleagues, Lesley Stahl, Bill Whitaker and Jon Wertheim have said that they’re staying at 60 Minutes for now because they don’t want to “see it die,” but the moment they see anything else that threatens the integrity of the shop they, and you, deeply love and know so well, they say they’re out!
It must have been a blessing working with these consummate professionals.
Mr. Pelley, what you told The NY Times last week is truer now than ever before - “There is no democracy without journalism!”
Journalists across the world need to embrace what you’ve said like an anthem without question, because it is the absolute truth.
GOD-speed, Mr. Pelley. Whatever you plan to do with your many days ahead, GOD-speed, sir! You, and what you’ve done in confronting the enemies of truth and the enemies of democracy, will never be forgotten, and always appreciated!
-30-
