Bill Owens, the top producer at 60 Minutes, announced Tuesday that he’s quitting the show because he’s not able to run the program like he has in the past.
In a memo to staff members, Owens wrote that is he no longer able to make independent decisions based on what is right for the audience of the investigative news program.
“Having defended this show — and what we stand for — from every angle, over time and with everything I could, I am stepping aside so the show can move forward,” he wrote in the memo, as first reported by The New York Times.
Owens’ resignation comes as CBS parent company Paramount Global has been working to settle a US$20 billion lawsuit filed by U.S. President Donald Trump last fall. Trump took issue with the way the program edited an interview with then-vice president Kamala Harris, claiming the program was deceptively edited to favour Harris.
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Trump also demanded a retraction and even suggested CBS’s broadcast license be revoked.
The network has denied Trump’s claims about its editing, saying in a statement last October, “Former President Donald Trump’s repeated claims against 60 Minutes are false,” and insisting that “the interview was not doctored” and “did not hide any part of” Harris’s answer to the question at issue.
In a separate statement, reports NBC News, 60 Minutes said it turned over an excerpt from the Harris interview to CBS’s Face the Nation program, which chose to use a longer clip of the former Democratic presidential candidate’s answer.
“Same question. Same answer. But a different portion of the response. When we edit any interview, whether a politician, an athlete, or movie star, we strive to be clear, accurate and on point,” the statement said. “The portion of her answer on 60 Minutes was more succinct, which allows time for other subjects in a wide ranging 21-minute-long segment.”
According to previous reports from the New York Times, Paramount has been engaging in settlement talks with Trump, but Owens had told his staff he would not apologize for the Harris interview as part of a settlement.
In Owens’ memo to staff, reports Politico, he promised that 60 Minutes will continue to cover the Trump administration “as we will report on future administrations,” and shared some words of confidence.
“The show is too important to the country, it has to continue, just not with me as the Executive Producer,” he wrote.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Owen had been a longtime CBS employee with 37 years of service under his belt. He was the third executive producer in 60 Minutes‘ 57-year history, and also oversaw CBS Evening News.
Global News has reached out to CBS for comment.
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In Canada, ‘60 Minutes’ airs Sunday nights on Global at 7 p.m. ET/PT.
— With files from The Associated Press
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