After Scott Pelley firing, a look back at the flurry of media shakeups during the second Trump administration

The firing Tuesday of legendary “60 Minutes” correspondent Scott Pelley was the latest in a wave of media shakeups that have reverberated across the industry during the second Trump administration, which has made antipathy to the Fourth Estate a calling card.

Here’s an overview of some of the recent media personnel moves linked to political tensions, starting with Pelley.

Pelley, who joined CBS in 1989, was fired amid tensions with newly minted “60 Minutes” executive producer Nick Bilton, the Washington Post reported.

In a termination letter to Pelley obtained by the Post, Bilton said the veteran correspondent had proceeded to “ambush” him during a recent staff meeting.

“Yesterday’s performative display of hostility — enacted in front of the staff instead of in a civil, private conversation — demonstrated that you have no interest in contributing to the future success of the show, or approaching my new tenure with a mind open to collaboration and progress,” Bilton wrote.

Pelley quickly shot back in a statement.

“‘60′ has been the number-one program in America for decades because our beloved audience finds integrity, quality, and humanity in our stories,” Pelley said, adding that “the new owner of our network iscasting this legend aside, apparently to curry a moment of favor with the Trump administration.”

The firing of Pelley, and last month’s terminations of additional senior “60 Minutes” producers and on-air correspondents, came after Bari Weiss took the reins of CBS News in late 2025.

Weiss, the founder of the Free Press website who lacked broadcast news experience before being hired by CBS parent company Paramount, quickly became a polarizing figure in her leadership post.

She held a “60 Minutes” story critical of President Trump’s deportation policy from being broadcast for a month, and in December hosted a prime-time interview special with Erika Kirk, the widow of slain far-right political activist Charlie Kirk.

Weiss also brought on new CBS contributors including Niall Ferguson, a Free Press columnist who has voiced support for Trump, and Mark Hyman, a doctor and podcast host who’s been allied with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the secretary of health and human services.

Comedian and pundit Stephen Colbert, a longtime Trump critic, hosted his final “Late Show” episode on May 21, ending an 11-year run at the popular franchise.

When Paramount settled a $20 billion lawsuit with Trump, who was unhappy with the way “60 Minutes” edited an interview with Kamala Harris, Colbert, in his opening monologue of July 1, labeled the settlement a “big, fat bribe” intended to facilitate a Paramount merger with Skydance. CBS announced the cancellation of “The Late Show” three days later.

Kimmel, the host of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” on ABC, saw his eponymous talk show briefly taken off the air in September in the wake of comments he had made on camera about Kirk’s death.

Among them was an assertion that “many in MAGA land are working very hard to capitalize on the murder of Charlie Kirk.”

He also said that Trump’s response to Kirk’s death “is not how an adult grieves the murder of someone he called a friend. This is how a 4-year-old mourns a goldfish, OK?”

In addition, Kimmel lambasted FBI chief Kash Patel’s handling of the investigation, comparing him to “a kid who didn’t read the book, BSing his way through an oral report.”

Trump cheered Kimmel’s suspension, writing on social media, “Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done.”

They didn’t do it for long; Kimmel returned to the air days later.

More recently, he faced calls for his firing in April after making an on-air joke about Trump dying.

Kimmel remains on the air.

Reid, another vocal Trump critic, was fired early last year from MSNBC, where she had hosted “The ReidOut” since 2020.

Her firing prompted an on-air rebuke in February 2025 from colleague Rachel Maddow, who told her viewers it was “unnerving” that the network was cutting its only two nonwhite hosts in primetime, Reid and Alex Wagner, as well as weekend host Katie Phang.

“That feels worse than bad, no matter who replaces them,” Maddow said. “That feels indefensible.”

Wagner and Phang were expected to remain with the network as contributors, NPR reported at the time. Phang has since left the network, while Wagner remains a contributor.

MSNBC experienced steep losses in primetime viewership after Trump won reelection in November 2024, leading to the exit of network president Rashida Jones in January 2025.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, the owner of the Washington Post, infamously spikedan endorsement from the paper’s editorial board for Harris, Trump’s Democratic opponent in the 2024 election.

Then after Trump won, Bezos, a guest at his second inauguration, announced a revamped WaPo opinion page, saying it would focus on personal liberties and free markets, leading opinions editor David Shipley to quit.

“Bravo, @JeffBezos!” posted fellow billionaire Elon Musk to social media following the announcement.

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders was less enthused.

“This is what Oligarch ownership of the media looks like,” said Sanders in a posting at the time on X, which Musk owns. “The second-richest guy in the world, Bezos, owns The Washington Post. He has now declared that the editorial page of that paper is going Trump right-wing. Surprise, Mr. Musk agrees. We must support independent media.”

Sanders had also criticized Bezos for blocking the editorial page’s planned endorsement of Harris.

“This is what Oligarchy is about. Jeff Bezos, the 2nd wealthiest person in the world and the owner of the Washington Post, overrides his editorial board and refuses to endorse Kamala,” Sanders had posted to Facebook in October 2024. “Clearly, he is afraid of antagonizing Trump and losing Amazon’s federal contracts. Pathetic.”

Material from prior Globe stories and the Associated Press was used in this report.