‘60 Minutes’ gains stability with an esteemed new producer
It has been a lousy few months at CBS News and, in particular, “60 Minutes.”
It all goes back to when President Donald Trump sued CBS’s parent company, Paramount, claiming that CBS News edited an interview with then-Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris to help her defeat Trump in the 2024 election.
Even though legal experts believed Trump had no case, Paramount eventually settled out of court, agreeing to pay Trump $16 million. (Trump says it was way more.) But the mess began well before the settlement agreement was reached.
As soon as word leaked that Paramount was even considering a settlement — and reports that there was extra scrutiny on the stories being done by “60 Minutes” — there was a revolt at CBS News. That included the well-respected “60 Minutes” executive producer Bill Owens resigning in protest.
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Whether it’s the Des Moines Register’s publication of an unfavorable election poll, a routine edit of a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris, or the Associated Press’s decision in its authoritative stylebook to continue to use “Gulf of Mexico,” Donald Trump and the White House have used executive authority and legal reprisals in an effort to punish and suppress press coverage that runs contrary to the administration’s preferred narratives.
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