David Ellison, the chief executive of Paramount, promised to respect the editorial independence of “60 Minutes” in a call with Lesley Stahl, one of the show’s correspondents, she told The New York Times on Tuesday.
The call to Ms. Stahl, which was carried out on Sunday, was one of the first signs that Mr. Ellison personally took steps to quell the unrest at the news network following the firing of the show’s management and several of its star correspondents. The review, overseen by Bari Weiss, the network’s editor-in-chief, was met with a rebuke from Scott Pelley, a star “60 Minutes” correspondent who has since been fired.
Mrs. Stahl told the news program’s staff about Mr. Ellison’s call during a champagne toast she held at the “60 Minutes” offices in Midtown Manhattan on Monday in an effort to boost morale at the program.
She, Bill Whitaker and Jon Wertheim, the remaining stars of the show, had agonized over whether to stay in the wake of the personnel changes and Mr. Pelley’s firing. But in a letter to the show’s staff on Friday, they concluded they had to stay on the show because they didn’t “want to see ’60 Minutes’ die.”
“My toast was ‘for us,’ meaning the survivors,” said Ms. Stahl in a text message on Tuesday. “Maybe ‘us’ with a hint of survivor’s guilt.”
Mr. Ellison’s takeover of Paramount last year raised questions about what kind of steward he would be for CBS News. Ellison has been friendly with President Trump as his company, Paramount, seeks to federally sign off on a $111 billion deal to buy Warner Bros. Discovery. He has said he wants CBS News to appeal to what he describes as the 70 percent of Americans who consider themselves center-right or center-left.
In an interview with The Times, Mr. Pelley also that Ms. Weiss had put her “thumb on the scale” for Mr. Trump on the last season of “60 Minutes,” an accusation the network has denied. That claim echoed a complaint by Sharyn Alfonsi, another correspondent, who said Ms. Weiss’s editorial guidance on one of her stories was “political.”
Last week, dozens of prominent journalists, including well-known CBS News veterans, signed an open letter to Mr. Ellison, who took over Paramount’s CBS last year, and asked him to commit to the show’s independence. He has yet to weigh in publicly.
Paramount had no immediate comment.
The turmoil at “60 Minutes” has raised questions about the future of the program, which must move forward without many of its biggest stars or longest-serving executives.
Three of the show’s seven correspondents—Mr. Pelley, Ms. Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega – were fired; a fourth, Anderson Cooper, left. Nick Bilton, a technology journalist and filmmaker who is the show’s new executive producer, has no broadcasting experience. And the firings have widened a rift between CBS News executives and the staff at “60 Minutes,” which is used to operating with a high degree of independence from the network.
There are also more pressing concerns: “60 Minutes” is scheduled to air reruns until the next season begins in September. The show typically has correspondents recording new introductions to their segments to update anything that has become outdated. But many of the recent segments involved the correspondents who were recently fired.
An example is an interview with filmmaker Christopher Nolan, conducted by Mr. Pelley, which was scheduled to air again along with the premiere of “The Odyssey” this summer.
Under Ms. Stahl’s toast on Monday, Mr. Wertheim also weighed in. He turned to Mr. Bilton and told him he had been dealt “one hell of a hand,” noting there were “bridges to build and fences to mend and various other structural metaphors,” according to two people familiar with his remarks.
“But there is a way here,” he told Mr. Bilton.
