There has been internal turmoil at CBS News after 60 Minutes executive producer Bill Owens left the show this week. Dan Rather believes Owen is the “hero” of the show.
In a post published to his Substack, the former CBS News anchor shared his displeasure with the situation, noting that the company’s consideration of settling the lawsuit brought forth by President Donald Trump of the 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris is a preposterous idea centered on the merger between parent company Paramount Global and Skydance.
“Because of Donald Trump, and because of a corporate lust for cash, 60 Minutes now has oversight and overlords,” Rather wrote. “Prying eyes from corporate offices are never a good thing when reporting the news. Journalism must operate without fear or favor. Independence is necessary for superior journalism.
“Over the past 57 years, 60 Minutes has developed into this country’s best at what it does, and one of the best in the world,” Rather continued. “But suddenly this week, we’re left wondering if 60 Minutes can ever be at its best again. The stopwatch is now under sustained attack from a lethal combination of President Trump and corporate greed.”
Rather shared that his contacts at the network have labeled the internal strife “a (expletive) show.”
He went on to add that he’s known Bill Owens “for more than 35 years” and that he knows him to “be in the best tradition of CBS’s storied news producers.”
The comments from Dan Rather virtually echo those of 60 Minutes correspondent Lesley Stahl. After the announcement that Owens would step away from the show, Stahl said she hoped the departure would be an impactful statement to executives at the network.
In an interview with Variety, Stahl said that there has been “interference” in the network’s newsgathering process and says that it isn’t “the way companies that own news organizations should be acting.”
“We hope that this message reaches our bosses, that we have a reputation to uphold,” said Stahl. “It’s one of the reasons that CBS News is valuable. It’s what 60 Minutes stands for, and we can’t lose that. We can’t afford to lose that. We have lost our boss because of it. It’s just crushing.”
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