Veteran correspondents Lesley Stahl, Bill Whitaker and Jon Wertheim informed their colleagues they would remain at "60 Minutes" Friday, but public reaction was mixed.
The broadcast legends circulated a memo to CBS News colleagues saying they would stay on despite the firings of executive producer Tanya Simon, executive editor Draggan Mihailovich and three correspondents, including Scott Pelley.
But they struck a defiant tone in their decision to continue work at the venerable news magazine.
“We have had a hard time deciding whether to stay at’ 60 Minutes,’" the memo stated. "We’re still deeply upset by the firings of Tanya and Draggan, strong leaders who everyone respected. As far as we can tell – because no explanation has ever been offered, they were expelled because they fought for our ’60 Minutes’ values and stood up to protect our independence and integrity."
"Newsrooms are not supposed to be run like dictatorships," the memo added. "Collaboration and argument are the way we have always worked at ’60.’ Don Hewitt actually encouraged loud passionate advocacy for our pieces.”
CBS News has been plunged into turmoil under the leadership of editor in chief Bari Weiss, who was installed by new network owner and Donald Trump ally Larry Ellison. Keeping the three longtime correspondents was seen as crucial to saving the long-running program.
“We don’t want to see ‘60 Minutes’ die,” the correspondents said.
Their decision was met with a wide range of opinion, although many agreed the program would not survive under Weiss.
"Chickens---s. What an insult to Pelley," popped off journalist David Roberts.
"You can't fix him," lamented writer Karl Bode. "It's dead."
"60 Minutes is already dead," agreed blogger Charles Johnson. "It has joined the Choir Invisible. There’s no way it’s ever going to come back from this."
"The only excuse for staying that I would've accepted is to protect the jobs of the many people who work for them," opined journalist Helen Kennedy. "This was not that. They say they want to keep '60 Minutes' alive. But '60 Minutes' has been murdered. It's dead now. They should know that."
"'We Just Want to Reanimate Its Dead Corpse,'" quipped researcher and film studies professor Jon Danzinger.
"Damn. What a betrayal," sighed producer and author Melissa Jo Peltier. "Leslie Stahl certainly doesn’t need the paycheck."
"Seeing a lot of people say that this is capitulation when this is pretty clearly 'f---- you, fire me'?" opined writer David Uzumeri.
"No good options available, just choosing from the bad ones," sighed Media Matters' Matthew Gertz.