Veteran TV journalist Scott Pelley told the 60 Minutes audience on Sunday that the resignation of longtime producer Bill Owens proved that Owens “was the right person to lead 60 Minutes all along.”
In an on-air rebuke that shocked many viewers with its candor, Pelley described how Paramount, the parent company of CBS, is seeking a merger — and how that potential merger, which needs to be approved by the Trump administration, has made Paramount “supervise our content in new ways.”
While saying none of its stories so far “has been blocked,” Pelley revealed that Owens felt hamstrung by the new oversight, and that he believed it created a barrier to “honest journalism.”
And now, a note on Bill Owens who, until this past week, was the executive producer of 60 Minutes.
We’ll be back next week with another edition of 60 Minutes.
— 60 Minutes (@60minutes.bsky.social) April 27, 2025 at 8:38 PM
The Trump administration has put pressure on CBS, the venerable news show’s home for 57 years, in more direct ways too, suing ’60 Minutes’ over its allegedly biased editing of a Kamala Harris interview.
It’s the kind of legal case that wouldn’t trouble the network in times past, experts say, given the show’s First Amendment protections. But the vulnerability to Trump’s judgement on the merger, as Pelley expressed, changes the calculus and suggests a settlement for the sake of appeasement may be in the future.
(Trump has sued for $20 billion and also threatened to pull the network’s license, an untenable situation with a merger imminent.)
That’s a problematic attitude. CBS needs government approval for an $8 billion merger deal. They won’t get that approval unless they appease Trump. Trump is suing CBS and 60 minutes for $20 billion. That’s corruption. That’s conflict of interest. That’s a violation of the first amendment.
— siestacoffeegirl.bsky.social (@siestacoffeegirl.bsky.social) April 23, 2025 at 10:26 AM
Avoiding trouble with the Trump administration, as numerous threatened law firms which capitulated to the President’s demands can attest, is seen by many top executives as job number one for surviving during Trump 2.0.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) was among a chorus of voices praising Pelley and ’60 Minutes’ after its reveal. Sanders wrote: “Congratulations to Bill Owens and Scott Pelley of CBS for standing up for the Constitution and the First Amendment. Trump, and his lawsuits against CBS and other media, must be strongly resisted.”
Congratulations to Bill Owens and Scott Pelley of CBS for standing up for the Constitution and the First Amendment.
Trump, and his lawsuits against CBS and other media, must be strongly resisted. Paramount (which owns CBS) must not give in to Trump’s authoritarianism. https://t.co/wJSYttiZ20
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) April 28, 2025
In mentioning “other media,” Sanders may have in mind Trump’s targeting of AP, which ran afoul of the administration ostensibly for not cooperating in the renaming of the Gulf of Mexico.
Trump has also sued the Des Moines Register for publishing a poll that the President claims represented “election interference” and in December Trump got ABC to pay $16 million to resolve a defamation suit. Both cases were seen as First Amendment winners where the media companies would prevail, if that were the only consideration.
Sanders implored large entities with resources to resist being strong-armed by the administration, saying “Paramount (which owns CBS) must not give in to Trump’s authoritarianism.”