Tony Dokoupil Honors Scott Pelley in First CBS Newscast After the Firing of the Veteran '60 Minutes' Journalist

CBS News anchor Tony Dokoupil publicly praised Scott Pelley on Wednesday night, one day after the veteran "60 Minutes" correspondent was fired following a confrontation with network leadership over the show's direction and recent staffing cuts.

"When I started at CBS, Scott Pelley was in this very chair," Dokoupil said during "CBS Evening News." He described Pelley as "a journalist who valued truth at all costs" and said the longtime correspondent believed freedom of the press was "the right that guaranteed all the others," quoting James Madison.

Dokoupil's remarks, reported by Variety, came as CBS News leadership continued defending Pelley's dismissal on Wednesday. During a staff call reported by The Washington Post, CBS News editor in chief Bari Weiss said the network was "only interested in working in a newsroom that is built on trust and mutual respect" and argued that "that foundation was broken on Monday."

Weiss added that CBS leadership attempted to "find a way back" with Pelley before deciding to terminate his employment, adding: "we did not want that to happen, but that's the path that he chose."

Pelley disputed that characterization in a public statement released on Wednesday, saying there had been "no effort of any kind to 'find a way back.'" He described Weiss and CBS News president Tom Cibrowski as "openly hostile from the start" during the meeting in which he was informed of his firing.

The dispute followed a contentious Monday staff meeting led by new "60 Minutes" executive producer Nick Bilton, who was recently appointed amid a broader shake-up at the news magazine.

According to multiple reports, Pelley challenged Bilton's qualifications during the meeting and accused Weiss of "murdering '60 Minutes.'" Bilton later informed Pelley that he was being terminated "for cause," accusing him in a letter of "misconduct" and a "performative display of hostility."

In his first public statement, Pelley accused CBS leadership of pressuring him to "inject falsehoods and bias" into politically sensitive reporting and alleged politicians had recently been given influence over "60 Minutes" interviews. "The leadership of 60 Minutes is no longer recognizable," Pelley said. "The principles I hold dear are gone, and so I must leave as well."

During Wednesday's broadcast, Dokoupil also highlighted Pelley's decades-long career at CBS News, including his reporting on the September 11 attacks, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the financial crisis. "He was in some ways a man from another era," Dokoupil said. "He didn't watch the competition, he said, because he knew who he was."