WGA Slams Scott Pelley’s Firing and CBS News’ ‘Cruel and Needless Layoffs’: ‘A Profound Contempt for the Journalism Profession’

The head of the Writers Guild of America East union blasted Paramount-owned CBS News for recent “cruel and needless layoffs,” its firing of “60 Minutes” correspondent Scott Pelley and the shutdown of CBS News Radio.

In a message to members Thursday morning, WGA East president Tom Fontana decried the “assaults on CBS News, an institution of American journalism for nearly a century.” He said the actions taken by CBS News “are more than mere ideological interference with the news. They display a profound contempt for the journalism profession.”

WGA East represents unionized employees at CBS News as well as CBS News Digital.

Reps for CBS News did not immediately provide comment.

Fontana, in his message to WGA East members, wrote, “Like many of you, I have been alarmed by recent developments at CBS News. In the past year, CBS has enacted cruel and needless layoffs across the organization and shuttered CBS News Radio. In addition, based on a string of public reporting and confidential reports from WGAE members, it is clear that CBS brass is engaged in a near-constant level of editorial interference that would have previously been unthinkable.

“Over the course of the last few weeks, CBS has laid off or fired multiple newsroom workers and journalists, most recently Scott Pelley; CBS management is apparently too thin-skinned to handle the honest scrutiny of their own journalists,” the union boss continued.

“These assaults on CBS News, an institution of American journalism for nearly a century, are more than mere ideological interference with the news. They display a profound contempt for the journalism profession, for our members who have dedicated their lives to informing the public about the world, and for the ethics that underpin true journalism, chief among them honesty, integrity, and objectivity.”

Fontana concluded the message with this: “To our friends and colleagues at CBS News: we see you, and you are not alone. Thousands of your union brothers, sisters, and siblings have your backs. We stand shoulder to shoulder with you now, we will be there with you when this difficult time in American life passes, and we will help you build what comes next.”