Politics
’60 Minutes’ Descends Into Chaos After Scott Pelley Issues Stunning On-Air Attack Against Network
A decision by the parent company of CBS’ “60 Minutes” program to exercise more editorial oversight led to the resignation of its top producer, a departure that drew the wrath of host Scott Pelley on Sunday.
In a sternly worded statement, the longtime host reserved his sharpest criticism for executives at Paramount Global, breaking rank to praise former executive producer Bill Owens and condemn their decision to take a more active role in the show’s journalism.
“Bill resigned Tuesday. It was hard on him and hard on us, but he did it for us – and you,” Pelley told viewers during the Sunday show’s final segment.
“Our parent company, Paramount, is trying to complete a merger. The Trump administration must approve it. Paramount began to supervise our content in new ways,” he went on, intimating that his corporate bosses made the decision to limit his team’s freedom in order to curry favor with President Donald Trump.
“No one here is happy about it,” he added before concluding that Owens’ decision to quit rather than toil under obtrusive new ethical standards proved that he was “the right person to lead 60 Minutes all along.”
Pelley’s public griping about Owens’s departure is an extraordinary illustration of the turmoil engulfing “60 Minutes” in the months since President Trump launched a blistering $20 billion suit against the show, alleging it deceptively edited its pre-election interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris to appear more favorable. It’s believed that Paramount executives are continuing to haggle with the president’s lawyers over the terms of a settlement.
The host made clear that no story has so far been blocked from publication. Regardless, Owens felt the enhanced corporate oversight was enough to effectively kill the longtime program’s journalistic independence.
“None of our stories has been blocked,” Pelley declared, “but Bill felt he lost the independence that honest journalism requires. No one here is happy about it.”
“Stories we’ve pursued for 57 years were often controversial, lately the Israel-Gaza war and the Trump administration. Bill made sure they were accurate and fair—he was tough that way.”
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The decision by Paramount executives comes as the company is negotiating a potential merger with Skydance, a multi-billion-dollar deal that requires approval from federal regulators in the Trump administration.
Owens, 58, had been with “60 Minutes” for decades before walking away. In his resignation letter, he stated that it had “become clear that I would not be allowed to run the show as I have always run it – to make independent decisions based on what was right for 60 Minutes, right for the audience.”
In a private meeting with staff announcing his looming resignation, Owens admitted, “It’s clear the company is done with me.”
“It has to continue, just not with me as the executive producer,” Owens said, according to the Daily Mail.
Prior to Pelley’s statement, other leaders within CBS News branched out across the airwaves to denounce Paramount’s oversight of “60 Minutes.” Among them was Lesley Stahl, one of the show’s most senior correspondents, who told Variety that her team was “made aware of interference in our news processes and calling into question our judgment.”
Stahl added bluntly: “That is not the way that companies that own news organizations should be acting.”
