CBS News fires correspondent Scott Pelley from 60 Minutes

CBS News fired its longtime 60 Minutes anchor Scott Pelley on Tuesday evening, amid an ongoing, tumultuous shakeup of the organisation under new leadership.

Newly installed CBS News chief Bari Weiss fired a string of staff at the news programme last week, including its longtime executive producer, and tapped a new editor, Nick Bilton, with no broadcast news experience.

The moves inflamed concerns the network's leadership would undermine independent journalism at the US's longest-running and highest-rated news programme.

At a staff meeting on Monday, Pelley accused Weiss of "murdering 60 Minutes", US media reported. Bilton called Pelley uncooperative in a termination letter sent to the host.

In a statement after his firing, Pelley accused the organisation of becoming more politicised and forcing him to "inject falsehoods and bias" into his work.

"I've been told to include assertions that are unverified," he continued.

Pelley said "incompetence and unprofessionalism in the new management have wreaked havoc".

In the letter terminating Pelley's contract on Tuesday, Bilton accused him of hijacking the staff meeting to disparage Bilton, his qualificatons and intentions with "remarkable incivility and contempt".