Turmoil at CBS News and Sixty Minutes

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Acount available online only requires one thousand dollars minimum depit of new money to open earn four point zer zo percent APy effect jun first twenty six on daily bances of one dollar to one million dollars, over one million dollars is zero point zero one percent API, memember, DCC Hello, it's Justin and you're about to he here. Americast. We are delighted to have you with us and if you enjoy what you' herear, please do consider subscribing to the podcast. That way you'll never miss an episode. Now on with today Hello and welc to America Answers. We are answering questions on the pod today, as we always do. and some of these include why has Donald Trump gone viral for getting up and storming out of an NBC news interview in Wisconsin? Well' one sided crooket network. let's call it quit because I And then the Iran warar is always a big topic of conversation. Republicans just voted against him in Congress. Is the president losing control of the war? And is he losing control of Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime mininister? I don't like these endless wars. This is not an endless war. We've been doing this for three months, much of it has been under the form of a pretty good form of ceasefire. The blockade has been amazing. Our Navy is amazing. Our military is the best in the world. And finally, we hear from Americaster, Theeresa in Kansas. She is watching as the English national team arrives there and she has some interesting observations on how the locals are preparing for them in preparation for the World Cup It is Sumi, Mariana and V from Maine joining back Chorley on five Live. Welcome to Americast ast Americaast from BBC News. You hear that J? I think when I hear that sound, it reminds me of money. We didn't start this war, but under President Trump, we are finishing it. This is a big cover up and this administration is engaged in it. This guy has Trump arrangement syndrome. have for you turn the volume up Now we have a lot to cover, so let's get straight to it. Let's start with a Donald Trump interview from the weekend, which has gone viral They often do. The president was speaking to Kristin Welker from MBC's Meet the Press. They're in Wisconsin at a big sort of farming event. They were talking about his proposed of setment one point eight. billion dollar fund to pay people who say they are victims of government weaponization could include january the sixth rioters who stormed the capitol claimed the twenty twenty election was rigged. I don't know what's going to happen with the weaponization front I love the idea. because People like you The fake dirty press, the crooked press. peopleople like Stupid Biden, he's not smart enough to know what's going on, but people that surrounded him surrounded his beautiful, resolute desk in the oval Office. What they did to the lives of people, they destroyed people. They sent people to jail who did nothing wrong.ust to be very clear, there's no evidence of what you're saying. You're either crooked or you're stupid. You play right into their hands with this rep. You know That these elections are rigged. Your network knows that they're rigged. You know that I won an election in a landslide and I got ninety four percent bad press. mister President, You know why presented Becauseuse you have no credibility. But you've never presented evidence that it was rigged. Let's keep talking about I want to talk about time. You have more evidence. There's more evidence than ever presented. Let's talk your elections in this country We're like a third world country.. Your elections are crooked And you're crooked. At least the press is crooked. So is ABC and CBS and CNN.. You're one sided crooked network. Sorry. Let's call it quits because I've had enough Thank you Darl. Have a good day mister President, let's please. I traveled all the way to Wisconsin. I tra I travel I know. I travel way hin O and off in the rain and I've given you enough time. Anthony, you've been there before. You've interviewed President Trump. I mean, he obviously didn't go very well but there's obiously a tension there, isn't there? that you want the interview to last as long as possible. But if you ask him someone he doesn't like, he might get up and walk off It is It is a challenge because he is so mercurial and if you push him too hard, he will just clam up like that. I've talked to him on Air Force O where the gathered reporters, one of us asks something that he doesn't like and he just turns around and leaves. Now to do that in this situation where this was a planned interview on meet the press, a sit down interview, that is I think taking it to a different level, but you could tell just how quickly that got off the rails and it got off the rails on something that Donald Trump talks a lot about and doesn't like to be pushed back on, which is his unfounded allegations of electoral fraud. And you could see he just had had enough of it by that point. It had been a contentious interview all the way through. you with that's enough Darlene and getting up and go. He walked up and walked off the set. So what do you make of it? It wasn't helped by the fact they were in a barn and it was rain hammering on the it was quite a weird atmosphere. Yeah, and you know the technological kind of conditions around it were not so easy for both sides, I think. And there was a lot of rain, as you said. And you it isn't that unusual to see President Trump get up and leave an interview he's done in the past As Anthony said there, he's especially done it when he's pressed on those unfounded claims about the twenty twenty election. This is one that he's especially sensitive about. But I think what was really notable about this was he did seem irritated throughout the entire interview. Yes, he was being asked tough questions, but he's asked tough questions often. But you get the sense that President Trump felt under pressure a bit on the war in Iran and certainly on this anti weaponization fund, where he started to see some Republicans turn against him as well. And he's been pressed on this in the last few days, but to be sitting on a one on one situation there where He really has to answer to that, you know, that's where you saw him get really irritated Marianette, I suppose there's a world in which President goes on meet the press. It's not a big deal. It's not a massive deal. It wouldn't necessarily be been viewed by huge numbers of people, but the president walking off an interview and standing up to what he would call the don know, the Washington swwamp or whatever it might be, the mainstream press And reiterating his point and calling everyone cooking. that obviously does go violent and more people end up seeing it. Yeah, exactly. and actually it makes you think about The strategy and that we don't know here what the strategy was on either side, either from the journalist or from Donald Trump. But in terms of wanting that interview to get eyeballs, you know that the viral clips will often do much better than the original linear television interview. And anything that plays into the kind of outrage machine, as often called it on social media triggers a reaction that gets a strong sort of response from either side pits people against one another, it will obviously go viral. I mean we know that even from the source code that was released around X's own algorithm, they say it themselves and loads of insiders from the major social media companies who I've spoken to describe exactly this. So in lots of ways, this feels like a very twenty twenty six interview. And you've got the people who support Donald Trump loving that he walked off and you've got the people that support who don't like Donald Trump, loving that he was asked the questions he was asked. So why then does he keep doing these interviews with what he calls the Is it precisely to provoke this reaction and then get the clips on it? Or is there still part of him? Be he's a very TV president, although he's obviously big on social media. He watches a lot of TV. Is it still that he just wants to be wanted by these outlets? Yeah, I think that is definitely still a part of it. He's still old school. He still loves being in the New York Times. He still loves talking to three networks and meet the press, as we mentioned, it is an institution. It is known for being the kind of show that policymakers, influential people watch on Sunday morning, usually the person who's a guest gets pushed by the journalists. brringing up old quotes and things they've said in the past and using them to press them to try to point out hypocrisy or make them explain their position. So it's not shocking that this was set up as a contentious interview, but I think Donald Trump does like those old traditions and wants to be accepted. And so that's why he talks so badly about the New York Times, the failing New York Times as he says, but then he will call and invite those journalists in to sit down in the Oval Office and interview him. That's why he bashes NBC and the mainstream media, but he will still show up and do an interview like this. He's much more comfortable obviously on Fox News and he does Fox News a lot more than any of the other major television outlets. But I think the feeling was that this was a prestige appearance and it did go off the rails in part, I think because his hearing is not all that great either. So the rain played a factor. He looked uncomfortable, he looked hot. and then it just everything snowballed from there. It was fascinating. That was a great thing for us to get started on, but let's move on. We've got a question now from Finn in Liverpool, sentence of voice note Hi America team. I'm aware that Donald Trump's military excursion, as I believe he calls it has gone on for over a hundred days and not the four or five weeks he originally suggested that Benjamin Netanyahu has ignored the latest demands coming from Trump and that the peace deal the Iranians are supposedly desperate to sign, appears no closer than weeks ago. Has Donald Trump lost control of the situation completely? Wouldn't it be better for him to make a deal even if no better than the JCPOA one just so he can claim a win Thanks. Great question. thanks that, Finn. And actually this morning, Donald Trump posted on truth social saying Israel and Iran must stop shooting Immediately assuming that in a way sort of slightly demonstrates his lack of control on this with he's sort of making public pleas for his ally in Is wellel to stop fighting This hasn't paned out as would have hoped Yeah, although President Trump did tell journalistals over the weekend, he calls the shots. and that includes with Israel as well. And remember last week, we had that phone call between the Israeli Pime Minister and President Trump where that was a really contentious phone call, a lot of expletives. and apparently, President Trump said, you know, your expletive crazy. So we do see some real frustration for President Trump, although he says that relationship with Benjamin Netanyahu is still really good But look, you know the question that we heard there is really the point that President Trump needs a deal. He wants a deal apparently. But he hasn't been able to get the Iranians to move closer on a deal. And you can see that this is a real source of frustration that just when he thinks negotiations are moving forward, you have the Israel, Lebanon aspect of the war, of course, that has been going on And then Iran and Israel trading strikes again. And you get the sense that President Trump doesn't still understand why Iran has not made a deal. He really thinks that the conditions that are on the table are ones that the Iranians should have accepted. And secondly, he doesn't see the Israel, Lebanon aspect of the war as really part of this agreement, but Iran does. So it puts him in a really difficult position at a time where you have the American public still against the war, the majority of the American public, and more and more Republicans also you know, that support is ebbing as well in Congress. When you're where you are, Anthony and covering you, starting to look ahead to those big midtermss races, how much is Iran playing a part in it versus You know, is the economy stupid? you know, albeit the two things are connected I think they are connected. And I was at a Graham Platner, the Democrat running for Senate here his event last night, and he made the direct connection. He talked for an extended time about the Iran war. and he put it in the framework of the Republican leaders in Washington being out of touch with the people for starting a war that they didn't know how to end and for no clear But then immediately pivoting to say that is why your prices have gone up. That's why the price of gasoline at the pump has gone up. That's why things are hurting more. And it is just another illustration of the Republican leadership being out of touch with the concerns of Americans. And that's something I hear Democrats talk about a lot on the campaign trail. They know that this is an unpopular war. This has been an unpopular war from the start. And the reason has been unpopular is because the Trump administration didn't really do a good job of explaining why they chose to start this. And the economic impact of it because of the price of gas, was felt so quickly that it was very easy to draw lines between Americans' concerns about affordability and prices which they have had for quite some time, and Trump taking steps that are actually making that worse, not better Well' interested to see yeah, as we get closer to midterms how much that plays out. But let's move on. we've got lots of questions. We've got a voice note from Ed and Lewisham. For someone that defines himself so strongly as being America first Why does JD Valance insert himself into domestic issues? outside of the States. Is there a precedent for this type of comment from American president or vice president in another country's domestic politics Does this apparent contradiction get any coverage in the states Thank you for that, Ed. Yeahes. So Jie Vance pomp posted on X on Friday that Henry Novak The eighteen year old was stubbeds death in Southampton He said that his death was the result of the mass invasion of migrants In response, Downy Street said people would trying to interfere in our democracy adding that the Novak family had said they did not want his death to be used to create further division how U Anthony, how unusual is this this sort of intervention from Welome fans Well, it's not unusual for Vance. He is very connected to what people are talking about in conservative circles online as I think Bary Anam will attest. and he has this This finger on the pulse of what is important and issues that they care about and this is something that has been kicked around a lot domestically here in the United States among right wing online circles. He is also very interested in the conservative movement and the right wing populist movement around the world. He has weighed in on elections in places like Germany siding with the right wing groups there. and Donald Trump has as well. Now this is definitely a break from tradition for American leaders. They tend to not get too involved in domestic politics in other countries because there are potential knock on effects and it could undermine the American agenda, American foreign policy elsewhere. But Donald Trump and now JD Vance, perhaps because Donald Trump does it and have been doing it for decade feels very comfortable to tell other countries how to handle and criticize how they're handling their own domestic issues. Marian, is this sort of further proof this of MAGA in particular being just incredibly online You know, if the British right online is having a big discussion about Something that's happening here in the terrible Hemy Novak case. eventually the American right wall sort of piling because it's all sort of connected Yeah, totally. I mean, social media, as we know, has no borders and therefore a lot of the kind of topics of discussion are you know, people will be talking about events occurring miles and miles from where they are, but because they align with their values or because they're concerned about them or what have you. we've Well've seen this happened quite a few times now where particularly around the UK, Elon Musk, who owns X, obviously will get really, really stuck into the political debate and express support for often figures on the right and their arguments, for example, posting comments that are anti immigration. And then JD Vant often seems to follow Elon Musk. So Elon Musk will get really, really involved in a particular case. we saw this killing of the little girls in Southport and the riots that then unfolded in the UK. Elon Musk got super stuck in to that and super stuck into the response to that and allegations of people being censored or not being able to express their opinions and that sort of thing. The counter argument is obviously, hang on a second. someome of the stuff being posted is either misleading or not true, or in some cases there are also accusations of racism. One of the reasons why all of these kinds of sagas on social media provoke such a strong reaction is because people do feel like someone who lives in a country that is know speaks the same language but is quite different, like if we compare the UK and the US, is getting stuck into British politics and know that those kinds of comments will be rewarded on social media. They will get the views and the likes as per the point about the rage machine. I think it's worth saying as well that this certainly doesn't just happen on the right. Like we see it happen with Elon Musk and Jadie Vance, but we also see it happen on the kind of far left of American politics as well and issues again that people in the UK will be concerned about and people in the US will be. So it's the kind of lifeblood of the commentators who position themselves sort of further at the political extremes to post about specific cases, especially ones that are shocking and emotive, like the case of Henry Novak, or we've seen it around other cases. like a young woman who was killed on public transport in the US, for example. It's fascinating,ar clearly the British government has decided to use it as an opportunity to push back. Let's move on. We've got Theresa live on the phone. Hello, Theresa. Hello Where in the world are you, Tsa? I live in Prairie Village in Kansas, which is about a mile from the Missouri border Tell us what your question is to the Americasas? Well, my question to the Americasers is like, is the English football team going to bring it home? You can't jinx it Theresa. you can't jinx it. I know. I mean, they're arriving on Saturday here in Prairie Village And there's big excitement. pllaces have flags up, coffee shops. I actually went to a bar yesterday, which I very rarely do about once a year. and I was asked, oh, are you here for the World Cup? And oh my gosh, the English are here and everything. And there are signs in all the houses, Welcome England and three lines on the little signs and things So it's pretty exciting and they're not even playing a match here. And what's happening what do you spot in the shops as well? Yeah, that's what's really exciting. and I've been telling all my friends. theyve got hub knots and they got Marmite, there's HP sauce. There's birds custard, but I don't like birds custard I bought a lion bar and a crunchy, which is very exciting. so they've got little you know interestish things are? famous Thesa Anthony famously hates Ma He tried it on. My neemesis I mean I mean, it's all part of the brand The chf at the shop said to me, they also had jelly babies and I bought some jelly babies. and the man at the shop said, are they better? you know, the jelly beans? I said, Oh my gosh, yes. And he said, I'll buy some. He said, shouldhould I buy some marmite? I said, No. Absolute don't buy I like bit marmite. No do but they're not actuallypect they're actually expecting Jordan Pickford to pop out for a pack. into a Marmite saami Well, this is exactly what I said for my friends. I even if even a fan presumably isn't gonna go back to the hotel room and start making. presumably lots of British fans are gonna to want to try American. They're going to want to go to American places why would a British fan come here? Because you're not actually going to see England play? I mean you have got some mega fans who kind of follow where the team are and I guess maybe like relatives or family members, but I'd be very surprised if the Wags enjoy Mara a crunchy maybe do. I tell you what's going happen in a month's time, we're going to have a phone call from a shopkeeper in Kansas asking how can I shift this job lot of It's worth saying, by the way, there is a special box set of Americasts on BBC Sounds where we teamed up with newscast and the Fotball Daily to talk all about the World Cup and there are three episodes. We've just come off the air with five live and before we go and before I head out into the countryside of Maine looking for a lobster roll to eat. there's another story we haven't talked about and that is the big news around the firing of CBS sixty mininutes correspondent Scott Pelly last week, also former CBS news television presenter and the reaction and what it says about the American media environment at this point. So I guess first of all, Sumi, let's explain what sixty Mutes is because it is an institution here in the United States. And for Scott Pelly to be fired who had been there for quite some time, it's kind of a remarkable development in what has been an ongoing story about what is happening at CBS News under its new ownership Yeah, Anthony, this is a highly influential TV newews magazine in the US. sixty Minutes. It's been running since nineteen sixty eight. It is considered really the standard for investigative journalism in the US. It has won countless Emmys and peabody awards and all sorts of awards, and including the correspondents themselves, of course, have also won countless awards. I mean, I grew up watching sixty Minutes. It has this kind of very onic open, a ticking clock, and then you hear the correspondents all say who they are and then they go through the stories of the week. And sixty Minutes really has been credited with breaking and covering some of the most important stories in contemporary American history. I mean And I think it's fair to say that Scott Pelly was kind of at the moment the face of sixty Minutes and to see him being fired really pushing back against what he sees as this news magazine cowtowing to the Trump administration, I think is a real rupture for that program. And why he was fired was because he was criticizing what had been other layoffs that were taking place, other firings that were happening within sixty minutes, three correspondents, an executive producer, an executive editor, other key staffers were replaced, all part of this kind of wholesale change that has been going on in CBS since David Ellison took over with the new ownership of Paramount, the media company that owns CBS News, and the appointment of Barry Weiss to lead CBS News. Well Scott Pelly actually spoke about the experience he sat down with the New York Times interview podcast over the weekend senior staff wiped out after a triumphal year. Let's remember that. If the ratings had collapsed or there was some journalistic scandal about a story, then okay We deserve it But we had a triumphal year. So this is incredibly icult to understand people in that room who go to war zones when they are pregnant News rooms are sort of like the military or the police or Be beautif P peopleople at the FDNY down the street, it is a life threatening job in many instances And, um Very strong bonds, very emotional bonds are found are developed in that kind of setting. and to have people Running CBS News don't know that. have never felt that Don't understand it is a tragedy I never expected to see It's really interesting to hear that emotion in Scott Pelly's voice there. And I think you the first part of that clip where he talks about We don't see the reason for this. I mean, as you were mentioning, Anthony, I was looking at the numbers and sixixty Minutes was averaging around nine point one million viewers, which is pretty good for a pretty traditional news magazine. att the same time, we've also seen President Trump very critical of sixty mininutes when he said Scott Pelly was part of a gang of crooked, stupid people that don't care about our country. when he was speaking to the New York Post's Pod Force O podcast. So you've seen the pressure on those institution programs and the main networks.. And of course, Donald Trump had sued sixty minutes last year. about an interview that they did with Kammala Harris prior to the twenty twenty four presidential election. And a lot of people kind of dismissed that lawsuit saying that it wasn't a side of bias the way they edited that interview. But Donald Trump ended up settling with CBS for millions of dollars. and it was viewed by many to have been because of the oversight that his administration had on the Paramounts takeover bid CBS and that this was this smoothved the way for it. So there had been evidence of sixty minutes being in the spotlight and being the focus of Donald Trump in the past. And then just last year, there there was that story about the SeCot prison in El Salvador that got put on hold by the new management, including Barry Weiss of CBS because they wanted to have more of the administration's perspective presented that and that segment did not air for weeks after it was supposed to. and that was kind of the controversy. So there's been a lot of pressure on CBS political pressure on sixty minutes in particular becausecause of the way they've been reporting about the Trump administration. And there has been the feeling that the ownership and the leadership at CBS has been attempting to reel in sixty minutes. And that's something that Scott Pelly himself has accused the leadership of doing. Yeah, we should say, I mean, there are plenty in President Trump's circle who would say, look, this is just a legacy media trying to protect itself sixty Minutes was a left wing program, or CBS is a left wing network, CBS newews rather. And they will say the same about ABC and NBC. So the big networks here. And we've heard from President Trump's inner circle, you have new ownership coming into CBS newews. Of course they want to shake things up. Of course, they want to bring a new editorial line into the programming So there's nothing untoward about the firing of Scott Pelly. And you know, this is also about cleaning up Mainstream media as President Trump and his supporters have put it and making sure that they serve the American public as they should be. So you know we're going to continue to hear that kind of criticism from President Trump and his supporters going forward, especially in those interviews leading up to the midterm elections. Right. And the leadership of CBS has said that things need to change as CBS newews needs to change to adjust and adapt to the times that Linear television as we know Sumi, we're working in and adjacent to it, linear television. the viewership numbers are going down. The audience is getting older. You have to find different ways of going to where the audience is, and while maybe sixty minutes is still riding high with good viewership numbers, I'm sure they look at the demographic trend lines also and understand that there are things that need to be done to adjust to current media environment. So it is It seems like Scott Pelly's itis and the reason he had a blowu last week where he went into a staff meeting and started braiding the new person who was put in charge of sixty minutes is because he felt like the layoffs and the changing of the personnel at sixty mininutes was not justified, It was not explained enough. and it was just too abrupt. Yeah, we should say, of course, Anthony, as we always do, if we're talking about CBS newews CBS News does have a partnership agreement with BBC, so that means we can share news content and video, but BBC News is, of course, editorily independent from CBS