CBS veteran sounds alarm over pressure to favor Trump: ‘Never seen anything like this'

Veteran “60 Minutes” journalist Scott Pelley described unprecedented corporate pressure to make CBS News coverage more favorable to President Donald Trump, drawing a stunning comparison to Fox News from one of its former anchors.

“I had never seen anything like this,” Pelley said Wednesday during a panel discussion organized by Speak Up For Justice, according to The Guardian’s media reporter Jeremy Barr.

“In my experience, and having talked to my colleagues as well, there was an imperative to move our coverage in the direction of the president. To put a thumb on the scale, if you will, in terms of the president's viewpoint,” Pelley said.

The longtime CBS journalist went on to describe what he characterized as an extraordinary intrusion into the newsroom.

“This was corporate influence coming into the news division saying, 'We want you to report stories with this particular bent, in terms of politics’” Pelley said.

“It was anathema to all of us who had worked at ’60 Minutes’ for so many years, and we fought the battle against it,” he said. “We pushed back against it.”

Former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson, who also participated in the panel, couldn’t help but make a striking comparison.

“When I was listening to Scott talk ... I was thinking to myself, 'Wow, what he's describing sounds like Fox News.' That's the way opinion TV works,” Carlson said.

According to Barr’s reporting, Pelley also predicted a “huge consolidation” between CBS News and CNN, questioning whether the networks would continue operating separate Washington and London bureaus.

“With $80 billion in debt, those two news organizations are going to get conflated into one – I’m quite certain,” he concluded.