’60 Minutes’ Calls Out Paramount for Executive Producer’s Exit in Rare On-Air Rebuke

All seemed normal in the first 98% of Sunday’s broadcast of “60 Minutes” on CBS. But the remaining 2% may have shocked viewers.

In the show’s “Last Minute” segment, correspondent Scott Pelley told the audience of the venerable newsmagazine that Bill Owens, the program’s executive producer, had opted to depart as Paramount Global, the parent of CBS News, tries to navigate its way to a merger and after it had placed more scrutiny on “60 Minutes” editorial processes while the show investigated war in the Gaza region and how President Trump’s policies affected Americans.

“‘Paramount began to supervise our content in new ways. None of our stories has been blocked, but Bill felt he lost the independence that honest journalism requires,” Pelley said. “No one here is happy about it.”

The segment offered a rare instance of “60 Minutes” personnel criticizing the parent company’s management of the newsmagazine, one of TV’s highest-rated programs and one of journalism’s most respected vehicles.

More to come…