Recently fired “60 Minutes” correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi and Scott Pelley have found a safe space, landing at Columbia Journalism School (CJS) for the 2026–27 academic year.
Alfonsi and Pelley, who were shown the door from “60 Minutes” after clashing with CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss and objecting to attempts to tamp down the partisanship at the iconic newsmagazine, will serve at the historically liberal-yet-celebrated home to the Pulitzer Prize as journalists-in-residence, the school announced Monday.
Alfonsi and Pelley will “work closely with students, individually and as a group, through lectures, workshops and special events designed to sharpen their reporting, investigative and sourcing skills,” according to CJS. They will also contribute to the Columbia Journalism Review.
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“This is a critical time for a free press,” Pelley said in a statement. “Columbia is leading the way in training the next generation of great journalists, and I am honored to join Sharyn in that vital cause.”
The Media Research Center believes “Columbia’s journalism program is not committed to honest journalism” and instead “delivers a one-sided education that celebrates left-wing policies and is overwhelmingly run by liberal journalists.”
“The school uses its position as a leading journalism institution to promote a liberal agenda that has sweeping impact on the news Americans consume,” the MRC said in a report on higher education.
Meanwhile, Weiss has made several changes to “60 Minutes” during her tenure, which has been marked by sharp criticism from liberal media observers. Pelley was fired from the long-running CBS News show in June after he accused Weiss of “murdering” “60 Minutes” during a tense all-staff meeting that was supposed to be new executive producer Nick Bilton’s introduction to the staff.
“She’s murdering ‘60 Minutes.’ She does not love this place. She was brought in to kill it and is doing exactly that,” Pelley told staffers.
Pelley also told Bilton, who has no linear television experience, that he has “slender qualifications” for his new role. Pelley was fired the next day, with Bilton writing that he “hijacked” the meeting to disparage management.
“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. I am here to deliver first-in-class news programming, not to make headlines about newsroom drama,” Bilton wrote to Pelley in a memo obtained by Fox News Digital.
As for Alfonsi, CBS News declined to renew her contract months after she lashed out at Weiss for delaying a segment about allegations of abuses at the El Salvador prison CECOT.
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Last year, Weiss delayed the “Inside CECOT” segment that featured Alfonsi interviewing some released deportees, who described torturous conditions. A CBS spokesperson told Fox News Digital at the time that it was determined the segment needed “additional reporting,” seemingly due to concerns about not yet having an on-the-record response from the Trump administration for the newsmagazine segment.
In a stunning note to fellow “60 Minutes” staffers that quickly leaked to the media, Alfonsi said her segment was being held for political reasons, not editorial ones. Alfonsi told colleagues Weiss had “spiked” the story and not given her a chance to discuss it further.
CBS ended up airing the segment in January.
