Host Scott Pelley defined that company affect on the present’s editorial course led to Invoice Owens’s resignation.
On Sunday night, Scott Pelley, cohost of the CBS Information program “60 Minutes,” gave a uncommon rebuke to the community’s mum or dad firm, Paramount, over strikes that prompted the resignation of the present’s former government producer, Invoice Owens.
Forward of a desired merger with Skydance Media, which is owned by billionaire David Ellison, Paramount has sought to limit the journalistic independence of “60 Minutes,” viewing its protection as too important of President Donald Trump. Any merger deal that Paramount makes with Skydance should be accredited by the Trump administration.
Paramount’s strikes to encroach upon the independence of “60 Minutes” in the end led Owens to resolve he may not work on the program. In a memo to workers final week, he wrote:
Over the previous months, it has change into clear that I’d not be allowed to run the present as I’ve all the time run it, to make unbiased choices primarily based on what was proper for ‘60 Minutes,’ proper for the viewers…. Having defended this present — and what we stand for — from each angle, over time with every part I may, I’m stepping apart so the present can transfer ahead.
Employees had been reportedly saddened over Owens’s departure and the rationale behind it. Within the last minutes of “60 Minutes” on Sunday, Pelley paid tribute to Owens.
Calling Owens’s work a “quest to open minds, not shut them,” Pelley highlighted how the previous producer labored for the community for practically 4 a long time, spending 1 / 4 of a century at “60 Minutes.” Pelley acknowledged that this system coated “controversial” tales, equivalent to points referring to the Trump administration and “the Israel-Gaza battle,” which the community has sought to limit reporting on — significantly segments which can be important of Israel’s genocidal navy marketing campaign in opposition to Palestinians.
Pelley defended previous reviews on these topics, noting that Owens “made positive they had been correct and truthful,” including that “he was robust that means.”
With out instantly rebuking Paramount, Pelley made it clear that the mum or dad firm was utilizing its company affect to threaten this system’s journalistic integrity.
“Our mum or dad firm is making an attempt to finish a merger. The Trump administration should approve it. Paramount started to oversee our content material in new methods” because of this, Pelley defined to viewers. “None of our tales has been blocked, however Invoice felt he misplaced the independence that sincere journalism requires.”
Pelley added:
Nobody right here is blissful about it, however in resigning, Invoice proved one factor: He was the precise individual to steer “60 Minutes” all alongside.
As CBS Information and different company information media have taken steps to restrict their reporting on the Trump administration, unbiased media has change into extra essential than ever in combating assaults on democracy and the rise of fascism, Truthout’s board president and editor-at-large Maya Schenwar, editor-in-chief Negin Owliaei, and government director Ziggy West Jeffery wrote in an op-ed earlier this year.
“As a dizzying variety of company information organizations — both by means of want or greed — rush to implement new methods to additional monetize their content material, and others acquiesce to Trump’s needs even earlier than his inauguration, now could be a time for motion media-makers to double down on community-first fashions,” the trio stated.
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Certainly, the Trump administration is pushing by means of government orders, however — as we’ve reported at Truthout — many are in authorized limbo and face court docket challenges from unions and civil rights teams. Efforts to quash anti-racist educating and DEI packages are stalled by schooling college, workers, and college students refusing to conform. And communities throughout the nation are coming collectively to lift the alarm on ICE raids, inform neighbors of their civil rights, and defend one another in shifting exhibits of solidarity.
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