On air, '60 Minutes' reporter says 'none of us is happy' about changes that led top producer to quit

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Huff Post/AP

Apr 27, 2025, 10:56 PM EDT


“60 Minutes” correspondent Scott Pelley paid tribute Sunday to Bill Owens, the show’s executive producer who resigned last week, saying on the air that “none of us is happy” about the extra supervision that corporate leaders are imposing. Pelley made his comments at the end of the evening’s CBS News telecast, saying that in quitting, Owens proved he was the right person for the job.

“It was hard on him and it was hard on us,” Pelley said. “But he did it for us — and you.” His on-air statement was an unusual peek behind the scenes at the sort of inner turmoil that viewers seldom get the opportunity to see.

Owens, only the third top executive in the 57-year history of television’s most influential newscast, resigned last week, saying he no longer felt he had the independence to run the program as he had in the past, and felt necessary.

CBS News’ parent company, Paramount Global, is in the midst of a merger with Skydance Media that needs the approval of the Trump administration. Trump has sued “60 Minutes” for $20 billion, saying it unfairly edited a Kamala Harris interview last fall to her advantage. Owens and others at “60 Minutes” believe they did nothing wrong and have opposed a settlement.

Read more: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/media-cbs-60-minutes-bill-owens_n_680eedb0e4b0d60535dbb08a

[BoRaGard]

1. k and r

[tetedur]

2. Last night I watched "Truth" on Tubi. That was about the fallout on the 60 Minutes story on Bush's Air National Guard

service or should I say non-service before the 2004 election. Dan Rather left CBS. Mary Mapes was fired. Three others on the team also left CBS. The same team had pissed off the Bush administration with the Abu Ghraib torture story and won a Pulitzer for that.

So Republican administrations are still flexing their muscles against journalism. News corporations bend to the will of government because they have to have government approval to make their business mergers. In the movie, Rather says 60 Minutes was the first time a news show made money for the corporation. News was supposed to be a truth telling service to the people not a money making deal. The scandal over Bush's Air National Guard non-service became a controversy over documents instead of the truth that Baby Bush didn't fulfill his military obligations. Privileged Bush escaped going to Vietnam. John Kerry was denigrated for his service in that war.

It seems the bad guys win and the American people lose. This happens over and over. And yet we have been told the truth and we have been told that the truth is a lie and we don't know what to believe. This is what Republican government does.

[BumRushDaShow]

3. I think what happened under Shrub

was what made CBS a bit reticent and jittery for the "now". Back then, Sumner Redstone was still around and Les Moonves was flexing maximum power over the various Viacom properties. Rather's contract was not renewed when it came up shortly after that broadcast. That happened during a time when there was similar "reorganization" going on with CBS/Viacom with respect to UPN, that would eventually shut down and get combined with WB to form the current "CW" channel (which I expect also needed Shrub administration approval). I remember when UPN launched with much fanfare with "Star Trek: Voyager" being its flagship show.

Even to this day, Paramount/Viacom/CBS has been struggling and obviously like what happened in the mid-2000s, you have a focus on mergers and currently, this latest Skydance thing.

[Vinca]

4. I really had no opinion of Paramount before, but now it would be a cold day in hell before I subscribe to

Paramount+ or anything else under their umbrella.

[BumRushDaShow]

6. Way way back in the day

they became the parent of Desilu (Lucille Ball's and Desi Arnaz's production company) and Desilu is what produced the original Star Trek (and had originally aired on NBC in the '60s as did its animated spin-off in the early '70s).

Over the decades, they have gone through a helluva lot of morphing and reorgs and whatnot, mostly post-1995 when deregulation kicked in, and the race was on to "grow your (entertainment) business".

[Bengus81]

5. Nothing but more extortion out of Trump. You give in CBS then who is NEXT?

Hope you don't, I'd like to keep my Paramount+ account I've had since it started. But I REFUSE to pay what will of course be a rate increase later if Trump is paid.

Not fucking going to do it. PERIOD.............

[Javaman]

7. redstone sells and skates away leaving everyone left behind holding the bag.

she is the epitome of evil greed.