However “60 Minutes” now faces an unprecedented disaster.
This week, this system misplaced its govt producer, Invoice Owens, solely the third particular person to carry the job within the present’s storied historical past. His farewell be aware to workers cited interference from the company proprietor, Paramount International, which is looking for regulatory clearance from the Trump administration to finish an $8-billion merger with Skydance Media.
Clouding the deal, which requires approval by the Federal Communications Fee, is President Trump’s $20-billion lawsuit towards CBS over this system’s October interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris forward of the 2024 presidential election. The case goes earlier than a mediator subsequent week.
Trump alleges this system was deceptively edited to favor Harris, a cost that 1st Modification consultants say is spurious. However Shari Redstone, controlling shareholder of Paramount International, and the Skydance companions need to clear the authorized impediment to shut their deal, even when it means a settlement.
A Paramount International consultant declined to remark.
“60 Minutes” former govt producer Invoice Owens, left, with correspondents Invoice Whitaker and Lesley Stahl.
(Rick Loomis / For the Instances)
The workers of “60 Minutes” was shaken by Owens’ departure. However nobody is anticipated to comply with him out the door, largely as a result of it might be seen as giving in to Trump, stated one longtime member of this system who was not approved to remark publicly.
Within the brief time period, Owens’ exit will not be more likely to change the hard-charging journalistic values of this system, as a lot of his lieutenants share his ethos. Government editor Tanya Simon, who’s working this system on an interim foundation, is the daughter of the late Bob Simon, a widely known correspondent for this system.
Whereas Owens cited company interference, there was little proof of it on the display.
“60 Minutes” remained dogged in overlaying the primary 100 days of the second Trump presidency, with vital stories on the administration’s dealing with of Ukraine and the chicken flu outbreak. This system introduced collectively a Marine Corps band that was dissolved as a part of the administration’s purge of variety, fairness and inclusion packages within the army.
“60 Minutes” staffers credit score the drive of Owens, a 25-year veteran of this system, to get robust Trump tales on the air.
CBS executives not approved to remark famous that “60 Minutes” has an extended historical past of working independently and Owens was possible not used to the extra oversight carried out in latest months.
However the bigger worry at “60 Minutes” is that the corporate will settle the lawsuit with an apology and cost to Trump.
Any willingness to placate the president may have the “60 Minutes” journalists and producers trying over their shoulders as they attempt to do their jobs.
“60 Minutes” has been subjected to company stress up to now when community homeowners have been concerned in merger talks.
When Laurence Tisch owned CBS and was trying to promote the corporate to Westinghouse in 1995, the community killed a “60 Minutes” story that featured tobacco trade whistleblower Jeffrey Wigand, a former Brown & Williamson govt who revealed that its cigarettes contained components to spice up the nicotine that retains people who smoke hooked.
Brown & Williamson threatened CBS with a lawsuit, claiming the interview would intrude with Wigand’s confidentiality settlement with the corporate. Beneath orders from its authorized division, ‘’60 Minutes’’ didn’t broadcast the interview or air Wigand’s most damaging expenses till after the Wall Road Journal reported on a deposition he gave in one other case.
The battle was dramatized within the 1999 Michael Mann movie “The Insider” and stained this system’s stellar fame.
“60 Minutes” survived that episode and maintained its stature because the gold normal of TV journalism. In recent times, this system has dominated investigative journalism in prime time as its opponents “Dateline” on NBC and “20/20” on ABC have moved solely into telling true crime tales.
What’s baffling individuals who have labored on this system is why Paramount International or Skydance would need to danger damaging the worth of an asset that continues to generate hundreds of thousands in revenue for the community and offers enviable stature.
“I pray they back off and see that there would be real glory in speaking up and supporting ’60 Minutes,’ which is truly a national treasure,” Bettag stated. “It is also a cash cow and it has an identity for a network, which is truly important.”
