It looked bizarre. After CBS broke the State Department scandal on Monday’s “CBS This Morning,” there was nothing on “CBS Evening News.” The New York Post “Page Six” gossips suggested it was “because Pelley and his EP, Pat Shevlin, were peeved” it broke in the morning, not on their show.
“Pelley called Page Six last night to vehemently deny he had a meltdown — then promptly went into a meltdown,” they reported.
He roared, “That allegation is false. How long have you been a journalist? You wouldn’t last ten seconds at CBS News. This is not how reporters do their job. You called my publicist but not me in my office?”
Perhaps calling the publicist is the first thing you do if you think the news star thinks he's too good for you. They were right on that one. They added:
A CBS source told us, “CBS had been working on the story for a few weeks, and had been waiting for comment. Finally, [CBS News president] David Rhodes said, ‘We’re doing it.’
“Every other news outlet picked the story up. CBS had it on its Web site all day, so it was astonishing for Pelley not to even mention CBS’s own exclusive scoop on the ‘The CBS Evening News.”
...Pelley explained, “We wrote that story for ‘CBS This Morning’ on Friday. ‘CTM’ has two hours of air time, I have 30 minutes. Monday was a heavy news day and we had no place to put the story.” His CBS rep called the idea of a Pelley snub “ridiculous — Miller and Pelley discussed the story at length on ‘Evening News’ tonight [Tuesday].”
CBS turned to the State Department scandal Tuesday night only after two stories on Edward Snowden and the surveillance leaks. Pelley’s idea of heavy news Monday included the non-news that “Nelson Mandela remains in serious but stable condition tonight.” CBS also jumped on jury selection starting in the George Zimmerman trial, because CBS loves covering local trials with racial overtones -- unless they’re about reckless abortionists.
