Remaining ‘60 Minutes’ correspondents say they’re staying

(L-R): “60 Minutes” correspondents Jon Wertheim, Lesley Stahl and Bill Whitaker. (Roy Rochlin/Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images via CNN Newsource)

The three remaining “60 Minutes” correspondents told colleagues Friday that they will stay with the embattled newsmagazine for one stark reason: “We don’t want to see ‘60 Minutes’ die.”

Lesley Stahl, Bill Whitaker and Jon Wertheim wrote in a joint memo that they were “heartbroken” over the recent firings of their colleagues but had decided to return.

“We feared that our returning might be construed as an endorsement of the existing power structure. That is simply, categorically not the case,” the trio wrote in the memo, which was obtained by CNN.

The veteran correspondents wrote that newly appointed executive producer Nick Bilton’s Thursday memo to staff “said all the right things.”

Bilton’s memo supported the three correspondents and sought to reassure them that he shares their values and vision. He also wrote that “it should go without saying, but I’ll say it anyway: We will never be instructed by the ownership of the company on those stories.”

Matching reassuring words with actions, Bilton also said Maria Gavrilovic, who worked closely with Scott Pelley for years, has been named senior producer.

“If we can continue doing the work that made this show what it is — committing acts of independent, fearless journalism and storytelling — we’re here for it. If not, we leave,” the trio wrote on Friday.

“For now we’re staying — for our audience, the millions who watch us with a loyal but critical eye. We’re staying for our teams, and all the teams. We work for you guys. The thought of abandoning you became unbearable. And of course we’re staying because this is home.”

The trio’s announcement brings some sense of stability to “60 Minutes” after a week of dreadful headlines.

Last Thursday, CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss oversaw the firings of correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega, along with executive producer Tanya Simon and other senior staffers.

Weiss appointed Nick Bilton, a former tech columnist and reporter with little TV experience, to run the show in Simon’s place — a move that incensed longtime correspondent Scott Pelley.

Pelley confronted Bilton during a Monday staff meeting and accused Weiss of “murdering” the storied newsmagazine. He said that Bilton and Weiss were unqualified for their jobs and that Bilton would “never be welcome here.” The blow-up leaked to outside media and made national headlines, kicking off a crisis within CBS News.

The situation worsened on Tuesday when Weiss and Bilton had a contentious private meeting with Pelley. Hours later, Bilton sent a note to Pelley, firing him because his “antipathy to the future of the show has come through loud and clear. And I have heard you.”

On Wednesday, Weiss told a distraught CBS newsroom that her leadership team had tried to “find a way back” with Pelley. The correspondent said that wasn’t true, and in a separate statement charged that Weiss and her team had “instructed me to inject falsehoods and bias into a politically sensitive story” and that he refused.

Amid the fallout, Bilton has attempted to reassure the “60 Minutes” team that he shares their values and vision. He held back-to-back meetings with the remaining correspondents and producers and acknowledged how the recent string of crises had affected morale.

Bilton’s Thursday memo directly praised Stahl, Whitaker and Wertheim in detail, describing them as “core to this show’s success… Audiences trust them because they have proved it, story by story, for decades.”

By Brian Stelter, Andrew Kirell, CNN