Bill Owens, the highest producer at 60 Minutes, introduced Tuesday that he’s quitting the present as a result of he’s not in a position to run this system like he has previously.
In a memo to employees members, Owens wrote that’s he now not in a position to make impartial choices based mostly on what is correct for the viewers of the investigative news program.
“Having defended this present — and what we stand for — from each angle, over time and with the whole lot I may, I’m stepping apart so the show can move forward,” he wrote within the memo, as first reported by The New York Instances.
Owens’ resignation comes as CBS mum or dad firm Paramount World has been working to settle a US$20 billion lawsuit filed by U.S. President Donald Trump final fall. Trump took concern with the best way this system edited an interview with then-vice president Kamala Harris, claiming this system was deceptively edited to favour Harris.
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Trump additionally demanded a retraction and even urged CBS’s broadcast license be revoked.
The community has denied Trump’s claims about its enhancing, saying in a press release final October, “Former President Donald Trump’s repeated claims against 60 Minutes are false,” and insisting that “the interview was not doctored” and “didn’t disguise any a part of” Harris’s reply to the query at concern.
In a separate assertion, reviews NBC Information, 60 Minutes stated it turned over an excerpt from the Harris interview to CBS’s Face the Nation program, which chose to use a longer clip of the previous Democratic presidential candidate’s reply.
“Identical query. Identical reply. However a special portion of the response. After we edit any interview, whether or not a politician, an athlete, or film star, we attempt to be clear, correct and on level,” the assertion stated. “The portion of her reply on 60 Minutes was extra succinct, which permits time for different topics in a large ranging 21-minute-long section.”
Based on earlier reviews from the New York Instances, Paramount has been partaking in settlement talks with Trump, however Owens had instructed his employees he would not apologize for the Harris interview as a part of a settlement.
In Owens’ memo to employees, reviews Politico, he promised that 60 Minutes will proceed to cowl the Trump administration “as we’ll report on future administrations,” and shared some words of confidence.
“The present is simply too necessary to the nation, it has to proceed, simply not with me because the Govt Producer,” he wrote.
Based on the Los Angeles Instances, Owen had been a longtime CBS worker with 37 years of service underneath his belt. He was the third govt producer in 60 Minutes‘ 57-year historical past, and likewise oversaw CBS Night Information.
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In Canada, ‘60 Minutes’ airs Sunday nights on World at 7 p.m. ET/PT.
— With recordsdata from The Related Press
© 2025 World Information, a division of Corus Leisure Inc.
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