On Sunday night time (April 27), 60 Minutes was coming to an in depth with its “Final Minute” section. Host and correspondent Scott Pelley started, “A observe on Invoice Owens, the manager producer of 60 Minutes and till final week, our boss.” Owens resigned in a memo to the workers final week, citing an absence of journalistic freedom because the present’s father or mother firm Paramount is cozying as much as President Donald Trump whereas making an attempt a high-profile company merger.
As a montage of images of Owens performed, Pelley spoke about how a lot Owens’ presence and work was valued by the workers and correspondents at 60 Minutes earlier than calling out Paramount. “Paramount started to oversee our content material in new methods. None of our tales has been blocked, however Invoice felt he misplaced the independence that trustworthy journalism requires,” Pelley mentioned. “Nobody right here is completely happy about it.”
Owens’ determination to go away 60 Minutes as simply the third producer within the 60-year historical past as a result of not having the ability “to make unbiased selections based mostly on what was proper for ’60 Minutes,’ proper for the viewers” within the wake of Paramount International making an attempt to placate Trump as he sued CBS Information final November claiming that the information program tried to affect voters by airing two totally different edits of Vice President Kamala Harris’ remarks on the present. In January, CBS put in a brand new layer of editorial supervision presumably to vet requirements. That and different adjustments prompted Owens’ determination to resign. “Invoice resigned on Tuesday. It was laborious on him and it was laborious on us,” Pelley mentioned. “However he did it for us.”
The transfer by Pelley displays the temper of others engaged on 60 Minutes. Correspondent Lesley Stahl voiced her displeasure final week in an interview with Selection. “I’ve been made conscious of interference in our information processes, and calling into query our judgement,” she mentioned, including: “That’s not the way in which that firms that personal information organizations ought to be appearing.” Pelley has spoken out in opposition to CBS’ mismanagement earlier than, alleging that he was faraway from their night information protection as a result of questioning the office tradition of the newsroom. It additionally falls in step with MSNBC anchors corresponding to Rachel Maddow and Nicole Wallace to publicly query the community’s try at hiring former Republican Get together chair Ronna McDaniel as an analyst.
