By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2026-06-04 18:04:14 | Updated at 2026-06-06 05:34:40
1 day ago
CBS host Tony Dokoupil paid tribute to his Evening News predecessor Scott Pelley on Wednesday.
Pelley, 68, was fired Tuesday night following a clash with 60 Minutes executive Nick Bilton.
A late-night CBS statement slamming Pelley for 'misconduct' and 'antipathy to the future of the show' made the move known.
Pelley responded with not one but two statements, one released after he was canned and another after CBS News head Bari Weiss's explanation to staff during a Wednesday conference call.
The two essentially traded jabs and undermined each other's version of events leading to Pelley's dismissal.
Still, the CBS Evening News paid a touching tribute to the former 60 Minutes star after a report informing the public about the reasons he was let go.
Dokoupil devoted a sizable chunk of the broadcast to Pelley once CBS News Senior National Correspondent Jim Axelrod filled viewers in.
'Late yesterday, we learned that Scott Pelley, a 60 Minutes correspondent and former anchor of this very broadcast, had been fired,' Dokoupil, 45, began.
CBS Evening News host Tony Dokoupil paid tribute to predecessor Scott Pelley on Wednesday, devoting a sizable chunk of the broadcast to do so
Pelley, 68, was fired Tuesday night following a clash with his higher-ups
'When I started at CBS, Scott Pelley was in this very chair, and still doing a dozen stories a year for 60 Minutes.
'And amid all of that, still meeting every new correspondent to share his view of the mission here.
'He believed freedom of the press, to quote [James] Madison, was "the right that guaranteed all the others,"' Dokoupil continued.
'And the stakes are always that high in that, if you'd made it to CBS News, you were among the best in the world.
'He worked every single day to live up to that standard,' Dokoupil said.
The anchor then segued to a carousel of clips.
'When the planes hit almost 25 years ago, Scott Pelley was among the first reporters down there and he didn't leave for days,' he said. Footage of Pelley reporting from Ground Zero on September 11, 2001, flooded the screen.
'He covered the wars that followed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Not from the studio, but from the field,' the anchor continued.
A series of clips and photos of Pelley during his 37 years at CBS were played
'And not once, but dozens of times, he traveled to hotspots all over the world.'
Clips of Pelley in Kyiv and Darfur were played.
'And when the hot spot was here at home, [Pelley] covered that too - what he called the "hard times" generation, after the Great Recession.'
Presidential interviews, 'from Bush to Biden,' were also touted - as well as 'more than 50 Emmy awards along the way.
'He was in some ways a man from another era, and that's not a knock,' Dokoupil said.
He said Pelley was someone who 'didn't watch the competition... because he knew who he was.
'A journalist who valued truth at all costs.
'And always kept alive the memory of colleagues killed in the field - a reminder that his chosen line of work could be a dangerous one.'
Presidential interviews, 'from Bush to Biden,' were also touted - as well as 'more than 50 Emmy awards along the way
Dokoupil ended his remarks by reminding viewers that it was Pelley who chose to change the tagline found on the CBS Evening News logo, from 'with Scott Pelley' to 'with all of us.'
'Well, Scott, from all of us, thank you,' Dokoupil said.
Pelley had accused Weiss of 'murdering' 60 Minutes and Bilton of having 'slender qualifications' for the job during the Monday meeting. Recordings of the conversation were subsequently leaked to the press.
A conversation between Pelley and CBS management on Tuesday at 5pm failed to find a path forward. Pelley worked at CBS for 37 years.
