Why 60 Minutes Shouldn’t Ignore the Accusations of Bias

After Scott Pelley was fired from 60 Minutes, the longtime CBS News correspondent uttered a single sentence that captured both the greatest fears of the program’s fans and the core grievance of its detractors. Criticizing his new bosses—especially CBS editor in chief Bari Weiss—he said, “There’s a subtle political bias that I’ve never seen at 60 Minutes before, or at CBS News before.”CBS News fans fear political bias at the organization because they believe that President Trump seeks to neuter it, and that its parent company stands to profit by appeasing him through its managers.Critics of CBS News have long argued that its journalists inhabit a liberal bubble that blinds them to their prejudices––blindness epitomized by the claim that subtle political bias has never existed at the network, when, for decades, liberal suppositions have informed its selection and execution of stories.Both the fans and critics have a point––and insights from both are needed if CBS News is to thrive, an outcome every American should want. 60 Minutes is often better than most of what passes for TV news, despite notable misses. Improving it is easier than creating something half as good. And it consistently reports on malfeasance in government and beyond in ways that benefit us all. But even its best reporting will fail to have an impact on Americans who don’t trust it.The current turmoil at CBS News began in 2024, when Trump sued its parent company, Paramount, for $10 billion, alleging that CBS News edited an interview with Kamala Harris deceptively to help her in the presidential race by airing different versions of her answer on Face the Nation and 60 Minutes. The lawsuit was a preposterous attack on First Amendment press freedoms. Yet Paramount agreed to settle, paying $16 million to cover Trump’s legal fees and contribute the rest to his future presidential library––a settlement reached as it sought Trump-administration approval for an $8 billion sale to Skydance. Critics called it a