On an extraordinary on-air responsibilities, one of the top journalists of “60 Minutes” directly criticised the program's parent company in the final moments of Sunday night's CBS television broadcast, the first episode that announced the program's executive producer Bill Owens' intention to step down.
“Paramount has begun to oversee our content in a new way,” correspondent Scott Perry told viewers. “None of our stories are blocked, but Bill felt that he had lost the independence needed for honest journalism.”
A spokesman for Paramount did not immediately comment and previously declined to comment on Mr. Owens' departure.
When Owens surprised show staff on Tuesday, he said he would leave the program that was top rated on TV news for his differences with CBS's corporate parents.
Owens' comments were widely reported in the media last week. The show's decision to repeat these complaints in the air could have exposed viewers for the first time to be exposed to serious tensions between “60 minutes” and its corporate supervision.
Paramount's ruling shareholder Shari Redstone is intended to secure approval from the Trump administration for the sale of billions of dollars to a studio run by the son of tech billionaire Larry Ellison.
President Trump sued CBS last year, claiming $10 billion in damages in an incident that stemmed from a “60-minute” interview with Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris in 2024. Redstone has expressed her desire to resolve Trump's lawsuit, but legal experts have overstated the case.
In a statement on Sunday night's television broadcast, Perry presented Owens' decision to step down as an effort to protect “60 minutes” from further interference.
“He did that for us and you,” Perry told viewers of the show, which began airing in 1968.
After “60 Minutes” won a segment on the Israeli-Hamas war in January, Redstone complained to CBS executives about what she considers as an unfair slope in the segment. A day later, CBS appointed a veteran producer to a new role that includes journalistic standards. She reviewed certain “60 minutes” segments that were deemed sensitive.
Trump and Paramount representatives are involved in the settlement talks, and mediation is expected to begin this week.
Perry's on-air monologue on Sunday night evoked an earlier moment of public discord between “60 minutes” and its corporate supervision.
In a final note to viewers in 1995, correspondent Mike Wallace said the program aired that it chose not to broadcast interviews with former tobacco industry executives as CBS News managers put legal pressure on them. “60 Minutes” eventually aired the interview, and the episode was later made into a drama on “The Insider.” This is a 1999 film starring Al Pacino as “60 Minutes” producer Lowell Bergman.
Sunday's “60 Minutes” episode also featured a segment examining the Trump administration's decision to cut funding for the National Institutes of Health, including an interview with a former director who expressed concerns about the adverse health effects of Americans.
Lauren Hirsch Reports of contributions.
