Invoice 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 not in a position to make impartial selections primarily based on what is true for the viewers of the investigative information program.
“Having defended this present — and what we stand for — from each angle, over time and with all the things I may, I’m stepping apart so the present can transfer ahead,” he wrote within the memo, as first reported by The New York Instances.
Owens’ resignation comes as CBS dad or mum firm Paramount International has been working to settle a US$20 billion lawsuit filed by U.S. President Donald Trump final fall. Trump took challenge 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 modifying, saying in a press release final October, “Former President Donald Trump’s repeated claims towards 60 Minutes are false,” and insisting that “the interview was not doctored” and “didn’t cover any a part of” Harris’s reply to the query at challenge.
In a separate assertion, stories NBC Information, 60 Minutes mentioned it turned over an excerpt from the Harris interview to CBS’s Face the Nation program, which selected to make use of an extended clip of the previous Democratic presidential candidate’s reply.
“Identical query. Identical reply. However a special portion of the response. Once we edit any interview, whether or not a politician, an athlete, or film star, we try to be clear, correct and on level,” the assertion mentioned. “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.”
In accordance with earlier stories from the New York Instances, Paramount has been partaking in settlement talks with Trump, however Owens had instructed his employees he wouldn’t apologize for the Harris interview as a part of a settlement.
In Owens’ memo to employees, stories Politico, he promised that 60 Minutes will proceed to cowl the Trump administration “as we’ll report on future administrations,” and shared some phrases of confidence.
“The present is just too necessary to the nation, it has to proceed, simply not with me because the Govt Producer,” he wrote.
In accordance with 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 in addition oversaw CBS Night Information.
International Information has reached out to CBS for remark.
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In Canada, ‘60 Minutes’ airs Sunday nights on International at 7 p.m. ET/PT.
— With information from The Related Press
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