'60 Minutes' chief resigns, saying show's independence was compromised

Summary

"60 Minutes" executive producer Bill Owens, left, shown with executive editor Tanya Simon in 2019. Owens resigned Tuesday, saying corporate leaders were no longer letting him "make independent decisions based on what was right for 60 Minutes, right for the audience." Evan Agostini/Invision/AP/Invision hide caption toggle caption Evan Agostini/Invision/AP/Invision The longtime head of CBS' 60 Minutes resigned Tuesday, as the network's parent company contemplates a settlement with President Trump over his lawsuit focusing on an interview the show did with then-Vice President Kamala Harris last fall. In an emotionally charged meeting Tuesday afternoon, and again in a note to staff released publicly shortly after, the show's executive producer, Bill Owens said he was departing after 37 years with CBS News following months of heavy-handed treatment of the show by corporate leaders. Owens, only the third leader of the show in its more than half-century history, did not explicitly cite Trump. But the president's open rancor toward 60 Minutes looms over all. Corporate parent Paramount and its controlling owner, Shari Redstone, are seeking the approval of federal regulators to sell it to the son of Oracle founder Larry Ellison. The billionaire software mogul is a friend of Trump who visited the president at the White House earlier this year. "Over the past months, it has also become clear that I would not be allowed to run the show as I have always run it. To make independent decisions based on what was right for 60 Minutes, right for the audience," Owens wrote. "So, having defended this show- and what we stand for – from every angle, over time with everything I could, I am stepping aside so the show can move forward." At the meeting, according to two attendees, Owens said he had "lost independence from corporate." (The two people required anonymity to speak publicly due to the fraught professional environment at the show and the network.) 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pell...